The Kansas City Chiefs continued their 2022 NFL preseason tour with their first game in Arrowhead Stadium since January.
This game saw an extended look at the starting lineup on both sides of the ball before handing things over to the backups after just a few series. A few key players saw their snap counts rise this week while others saw their snaps taper off.
Here’s a look at how the snaps came down in preseason Week 2:
*Snap counts via NFL Game Statistics and Information System
Observations
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UDFA rookie OL Vitaliy Gurman led all offensive players in snaps with 48. Fourth-round 2021 draft pick Joshua Kaindoh led all defenders with 48 snaps.
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Taylor Stallworth and Malik Herring were right behind Kaindoh in terms of defensive snaps. It felt like the team was trying to get an extended look at those three players, who are very clearly on the roster bubble.
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The starting offensive line and Patrick Mahomes saw 25 total snaps on Saturday against the Commanders. It was a pretty flawless effort outside of some issues with run-blocking.
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Rookie DB Bryan Cook and Noah Gray tied for the most special teams snaps (11). Other notable special teams snaps included Chris Lammons and Jody Fortson (10). Elijah Lee, Leo Chenal, Deon Bush, Zayne Anderson, and Darius Harris also played a lot (9). Rookies Jaylen Watson (5), Nazeeh Johnson (7) and Joshua Williams (8) had opportunities as well.
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Josh Gordon led all Chiefs receivers with 27 offensive snaps, including four with the first-team offense. He didn’t do much with the opportunity, as he was targeted twice and one catch for 10 yards on the day. Cornell Powell (26) and Corey Coleman (25) were right behind Gordon in terms of snaps.
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Shorthanded at tight end, Jody Fortson saw work into the fourth quarter on Saturday. He and Jordan Franks both played 29 snaps (44% of the total offensive snaps). Travis Kelce played 10 and Noah Gray played 18 on the day.
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Derrick Gore led all Chiefs running backs with 18 snaps. Ronald Jones saw half of those snaps with just nine on the day.
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Rashad Fenton played 13 defensive snaps before his groin locked up on him. It was his first game back since his offseason shoulder surgery and he looked pretty good during it, matching up against Commanders star WR Terry McLaurin.
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Mike Danna played just eight defensive snaps on the day. It shows you what the coaching staff thinks about him and how he’ll figure into the defensive line rotation in Kansas City.
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Danny Shelton played seven snaps in his Chiefs debut. He’s still on an acclimation plan after just arriving with the team last week. Expect him to get some more snaps in preseason Week 3.
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Two players, Nasir Greer and Kehinde Oginnia Hassan played special teams snaps only on Saturday. They could be among the team’s roster cuts ahead of Tuesday’s deadline when the team must trim the roster from 85-to-80.
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Story originally appeared on Chiefs Wire