KC Chiefs Week 16 Snap Counts vs. Raiders: Stepping Back

Taking a closer look at how Kansas City divvied up its snaps in a Week 16 loss to the Raiders.

The Kansas City Chiefs failed to convert on an opportunity to win in Week 16, instead following up their previous victory with a loss to the visiting Las Vegas Raiders.

It was a rough afternoon for Patrick Mahomes and company, as back-to-back offensive turnovers ended up dooming Andy Reid's squad in the end. Nothing went right for Kansas City on Monday, and a fired-up Las Vegas group didn't leave enough room for a comeback attempt. The result was a 20-14 defeat that saw a few players shine but many others struggle to make a quality impact. 

Now that snap counts have been released, what jumped off the page? Let's take a look at three notable takeaways from another week of Chiefs football.

Shaking up the wide receiver room a bit

The Chiefs entered the week with an interesting dynamic at the receiver position. With Skyy Moore on the injured reserve list and Kadarius Toney dealing with a hip injury, the team had quite a few vacated snaps available for the likes of Richie James or Justyn Ross. Reid hinted at the former seeing an increased workload in Week 16, with the latter also getting activated back to the 53-man roster. Some of what was anticipated did end up happening on Monday, but there were also some surprises mixed in.

As expected, James did play more of a role on offense. After logging just two offensive snaps in Week 15, that number was 25 in Week 16. He rewarded the Chiefs' faith with three receptions and 54 yards. In Ross's return to the lineup, he played 10 snaps and hauled in one pass for a couple of yards. The most shocking developments at wideout, however, pertained to Rashee Rice and Marquez Valdes-Scantling. Just one game after he played a career-high 60 snaps against the New England Patriots (92%), the rookie saw his percentage drop to 75 on Christmas. Conversely, Valdes-Scantling went from a 34% snap share to an 80% one. Kansas City had an awkward split at the receiver spot all game long.

Injuries once again factored into the picture elsewhere

Speaking of awkward splits, it's only natural for injuries to play a role in when teams unleash — and how they unleash — their rotations. Attrition leads to players either leaving games with injuries or being out altogether due to them. The Chiefs are no different, as evidenced by the aforementioned wideout stable. Elsewhere, though, there were some other groups impacted by injuries on Monday afternoon.

Along the offensive line, backup guard Nick Allegretti played 11 snaps on offense in relief of Trey Smith when he was hurt. In the running back room, Clyde Edwards-Helaire's 30 snaps were more than expected, partially because Isiah Pacheco suffered a concussion late in the third quarter. At safety, Mike Edwards logged just 38 snaps and missed some time after getting banged up in the first half. All of these in-game ailments impacted the action in different ways and limited what both sides of the ball originally set out to accomplish. That's merely a part of the sport, although it did lead to Kansas City's depth getting tested a bit. 

A serious step back for Drue Tranquill 

The Chiefs' linebacker corps is one of the deepest in all of football, as the group of Nick Bolton, Drue Tranquill, Leo Chenal and Willie Gay Jr. consists of a good blend of skill sets and experience. Because Bolton's been hurt for a good chunk of the year, though, the team hasn't gotten much of a complete look at everything. Bolton's workload is beginning to stabilize back around 90% now that he's reinserted into the lineup, but it's coming at a cost to perhaps the team's best linebacker.

In the last two games, Tranquill has played a combined 37 defensive snaps. That's a sharp decline from the days in which he averaged significantly more than that per game when Bolton was out. Gay didn't see too significant of a change in his workload in Week 16, with Chenal's 60% mark being his highest since Week 8. Steve Spagnuolo and Brendan Daly will be tasked with fine-tuning their rotations moving forward, especially considering that Tranquill is a clear impact player when he's on the field. Finding a way to get him in packages more often without seeing a huge dip for one particular teammate is easier said than done, however.

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