Chiefs rookie report: Armani Watts earns most snaps in Week 3

In this weekly rookie report, we break down the performances by each of the Kansas City Chiefs rookies, taking an in-depth look at their snap count.

In each of our weekly rookie reports, we break down the performances by each of the Kansas City Chiefs rookies, taking an in-depth look at their snap count. There wasn’t much production by the rookies this week, but that’s more due to their lack of snaps—making it hard to come to any judgments so early in their careers. One rookie, in particular, even saw a significant 15 percent decrease in defensive snaps from Week 2 to Week 3.

Here’s a closer look at this year’s draft picks and how they fared against the San Francisco 49ers.

Breeland Speaks

Defensive Snaps: 6
Snap %: 9
Week 2 Snap Count: 20 (24%)

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Speaks saw a sizeably less workload in Week 3, seeing a 15 percent decrease in snap counts. Not a good sign from your second-round draft pick. This is largely due to the Chiefs being comfortable with ROLB Dee Ford and LOLB Justin Houston, two high-motored starters that have been consistently playing around 60-70 snaps.

Speaks is second on the depth chart behind Ford. With the groin injury Ford suffered in Week 3, it’s likely that Speaks will see an increase in playing time. Hopefully, he’s able to get some more snaps and make a larger impact for this defense.

Derrick Nnadi

Defensive Snaps: 18
Snap %: 26%
Week 2 Snap Count: 19 (23%)

Nnadi has been sharing snaps with DT Xavier Williams over the past 3 weeks. This being primarily due to the impact he’s had on the defense. Wearing the number 91 for the Chiefs, you definitely want to be able to make an impact. The predecessor of the number was one of the most loved and best players for the Chiefs. Nnadi has been filling that number out rather nicely, though. Even though he only had 18 snaps, he tallied 3 tackles. While this isn’t a huge feat, it’s nice to see him making a slight impact on the defense. He had some nice plays that I really enjoyed watching personally.

Dorian O’Daniel

Defensive Snaps: 0
Snap %: 0%
Week 2 Snap Count: 1%

O’Daniel seems to be primarily used as a special teams player. He saw just one defensive snap last week, and in Week 3 he didn’t see any at all. A little underwhelming for the third-round draft pick, but hopefully he’ll be able to develop more as a Chief moving forward.

Armani Watts

Defensive Snaps: 8
Snap %: 12%
Week 2 Snap Count: 16 (20%)

Although he was used primarily on special teams, Watts filled in nicely for when the Chiefs played their dime package. Of all of the drafted rookies, I believe he’s one I see getting more of an increased workload in the coming weeks. Especially if star safety Eric Berry comes back, I think the team will be comfortable rotating Watts in as a free safety to get him some playing time with Berry.

Tremon Smith

Defensive Snaps: 1
Snap %: 1%
Week 2 Snap Count: 5 (6%)

Smith saw a decrease in snaps as well from Week 2 to Week 3, seeing a 5% decrease. Although being used primarily as a dime back, he’s been consistent as a special teams player. He didn’t have any tackles and there’s not much to report as far as special teams, but as it stands right now I don’t see much of an increase in defensive snaps in the coming weeks.

Khalil McKenzie

Offensive Snaps: 0
Snap %: 0%
Week 2 Snap Count: 0%

McKenzie was yet again inactive for the game, and understandably so as the Chiefs have had one of the best offensive lines in the regular season thus far. While I do like McKenzie and hope he gets playing time some time this season, I’m all for seeing him develop into a good offensive lineman.

Special Teams Snap Counts

Speaks: 4 (14%)
Nnadi 4 (14%)
O’Daniel: 14 (50%)
Watts: 18 (64%)
Smith 11 (39%)

Overall, Watts saw the highest workload of the rookies, seeing a total of 26 snaps. A rather impressive outing for the developing rookie, who I hope fills in nicely as the season progresses.