Arrowhead Report

Chiefs at 49ers Grades: Noah Gray, Leo Chenal Lead the Way in San Francisco

Tight end Noah Gray and linebacker Leo Chenal earned the Kansas City Chiefs' best grades in KC's win over the San Francisco 49ers.

Joshua Brisco

Sep 15, 2024; Kansas City, Missouri, USA; Kansas City Chiefs tight end Noah Gray (83) takes the field prior to a game against the Cincinnati Bengals at GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jay Biggerstaff-Imagn Images
Sep 15, 2024; Kansas City, Missouri, USA; Kansas City Chiefs tight end Noah Gray (83) takes the field prior to a game against the Cincinnati Bengals at GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jay Biggerstaff-Imagn Images / Jay Biggerstaff-Imagn Images
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The Kansas City Chiefs secured a solid team win over the San Francisco 49ers on Sunday, but which individual players stood out in KC's sixth win of the season? In this week's look at Pro Football Focus' Chiefs grades, a duo of do-it-all players earned the highest marks on the team.

Noah Gray earns No. 1 spot with 90.1 grade

No. 2 tight end Noah Gray earned the No. 1 spot among PFF's Chiefs grades this week, and for good reason. As the Chiefs' wide receivers continued to be decimated by injuries, Gray played his largest share of offensive snaps of the season (47 snaps, 67%) in San Francisco. (Gray played 51 snaps against the New Orleans Saints in Week 5, just under 61% of the offensive workload.) Gray also had his most productive stat line of the year, recording four catches for 66 yards, leading the team in receiving yards. Fittingly for Gray, all four of his catches produced first downs.

Gray is also earning a career-best 78.0 overall PFF grade to this point in the 2024 season, the third-best grade among 72 qualifying tight ends, while his 85.3 receiving grade is also third-best among 54 qualifying tight ends in 2024.

Leo Chenal makes the most of heavy workload

PFF's second-highest-graded Chief was linebacker Leo Chenal, who maximized what was narrowly his highest-usage game of the season. Chenal's 38 defensive snaps were good for 60.3% of KC's reps, essentially tying his Week 1 effort when he took 48 snaps — an even 60.0% — in Week 1 against the Baltimore Ravens. Chenal has seen his workload fluctuate based on matchups this season, bottoming out with 14 defensive snaps (23%) in Week 3 and 20 snaps (37.7%) in Week 5. With the 49ers' propensity for heavy, condensed formations, defensive coordinator Steve Spagnulo rightly found a variety of ways to keep Chenal on the field, where he earned an 88.4 grade from PFF.

Anything positive from KC's wide receivers?

With KC's aforementioned wide receiver woes, PFF's view of the WR room provides some interesting data.

Mecole Hardman earned KC's best wide receiver grade (75.5) on 21 offensive snaps while no other wideouts landed in the green. Rookie Xavier Worthy was given a 62.4 grade on his 41 snaps, while Justin Watson (52.1) and Skyy Moore (48.3) were given two of the bottom-four grades on the team, despite Watson playing 50 and Moore playing 33 offensive snaps.

Read More: Week 8 NFL Power Rankings Roundup: Differing Opinions on Undefeated Chiefs

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Joshua Brisco
JOSHUA BRISCO

Joshua Brisco is the editor and publisher of Kansas City Chiefs On SI and has covered the Chiefs professionally since 2017 across audio and written media.

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