Chiefs vs. Jaguars Preseason Snap Counts: Back to Basics

There's plenty to take away from how Kansas City divvied up its snaps in the opening weekend of the 2024 NFL preseason.

Aug 10, 2024; Jacksonville, Florida, USA; Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes (15) looks to throw a pass during the first quarter against the Jacksonville Jaguars at EverBank Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Douglas DeFelice-USA TODAY Sports / Douglas DeFelice-USA TODAY Sports

Just like that, the Kansas City Chiefs are back playing games. Saturday brought a loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars, albeit an opportunity to get back in the swing of things nonetheless.

Despite getting doubled up on the scoreboard, there's plenty to take away from Kansas City's performance over the weekend. The back-to-back reigning champs had over 70 players see the field at least once down in Florida, whether it be on offense, defense or special teams (or a mix). As the team comes back home to finish training camp, there will be several things to work on.

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.

Good morning #ChiefsKingdom

Snap counts from Saturday’s preseason loss to the Jaguars ⬇️ pic.twitter.com/syGXkrscbo

— Jordan Foote (@footenoted) August 11, 2024

Minimal opportunities for much of first-team offense and defense

As the Chiefs got closer and closer to opening the preseason, head coach Andy Reid finally revealed his plan for how he'd handle playing time on Saturday. With that said, this is far from the first time folks have managed to filter out reality versus the expectations set by Reid. Joshua Brisco of Kansas City Chiefs On SI hinted at dialing back timelines for Patrick Mahomes, Travis Kelce and others, which is exactly how things unfolded the game.

On offense, Mahomes and Co. got just one series of work in. Logging six snaps, that crew was even accompanied by first-year offensive tackle Kingsley Suamataia. Defensively, proven players like Trent McDuffie, Mike Danna and Drue Tranquill got fewer than 10 snaps. Reid clearly wanted to just get everyone a tad of work without excessively risking injuries, and that aligned closer to how many NFL teams are handling the preseason now. Expect these workloads to potentially increase as preseason game No. 2 arrives next weekend.

Most rookie offensive linemen received tons of reps on offense

Aside from Suamataia, rookies along the Kansas City offensive line played quite a bit against the Jaguars. That goes for everyone ranging from fellow draft picks Hunter Nourzad and C.J. Hanson to undrafted free agents like Ethan Driskell, McKade Mettauer and Nick Torres. Given that the entire first-team offensive line (minus Joe Thuney, who was inactive) played just that one series, it allowed everyone else to pick up the rest of the snaps.

At the top of the list, Hanson and Driskell received more reps (56 and 49, respectively), than anyone else on the team. They were followed by Nourzad, whose 48 snaps ranked third. Elsewhere in the rookie class, Mettauer had 15 snaps before leaving with a knee injury and Torres was right behind him with 14. Tennessee Chattanooga product Griffin McDowell brought up the end of the group with eight reps. It's safe to say that not all of these players will make the final 53-man roster, but Reid and offensive line coach Andy Heck got quality looks at everyone they wanted to see.

Observations on the wide receiver room

Although Marquise "Hollywood" Brown left Saturday's game with a sternoclavicular injury, the Chiefs' wide receiver snap distribution wouldn't have changed much had he stayed in. Brown was pacing for just one series with the first-team offense, good for all of six snaps. Rookie wideout Xavier Worthy saw just five snaps, which is a good indication of his progress during training camp. Those two, along with Rashee Rice (six snaps) and Justin Watson (inactive), are still in line to be the club's top four wideouts once everyone is healthy.

The rotation behind them is the interesting part. For spots five, six and potentially seven, Kadarius Toney and Skyy Moore been expected to compete with Mecole Hardman and Nikko Remigio. Toney didn't play, though, and the Moore-Hardman duo combined for fewer snaps (25) than Remigio had on offense (31) overall.

Considering the context of when the former two were in the game, what did Remigio's workload reflect: a desire to see him as much as possible or his placement with the second- or third-team? That question will continue to burn as the preseason rolls on. Also, don't forget about Justyn Ross, who had 23 snaps and made the most of them with a very solid 2024 debut.

Read More: Andy Reid Delivers Major Update on Hollywood Brown Injury