Chiefs snap counts: Kelvin Benjamin and secondary questions emerge in Week 17

The latest snap count report from Week 17 brings up important questions for the Kansas City Chiefs on both sides of the ball.

Week 17 was a great week for the Kansas City Chiefs.

With their victory against the Oakland Raiders in the final week of the regular season, the Chiefs became the AFC West Champions for a record-setting three years in a row. Patrick Mahomes placed an exclamation point on his already historic season by reaching milestones of 50 touchdowns and 5,000 passing yards. Most importantly the Chiefs are the number one seed in the AFC, a move that secured home-field advantage through the postseason.

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A closer look at this last Sunday’s snap counts also brought a few questions for the Chiefs on both sides of the ball. Who is going to be in the secondary in the playoffs? Is Kelvin Benjamin ever going to produce for the Kansas City Chiefs? We will look at these questions and more in this week’s snap count analysis.

OFFENSE

The offense looked sharp again in Week 17 as wide receiver Tyreek Hill became the team’s all-time single-season record holder for most receiving yards, while Travis Kelce broke the single-season receiving record for tight ends in the NFL (only to lose it an hour later to 49ers tight end George Kittle the same day).

The biggest question mark in this prolific offense is recently signed wide receiver Kelvin Benjamin. Benjamin was brought in a few weeks ago and fans hoped he could become a threat in the red zone, but things have not panned out the way some hoped. Benjamin was on the field for a mere four snaps including a play where Benjamin and Kelce both let a ball fall incomplete in front of them as they crossed in front of each other.

The four snaps are alarming because Markus Kemp and Gehrig Dieter were in for 14 and 15 snaps respectively. Those snaps were mainly in the garbage time where Chad Henne took over, but the second string snaps could have gone to Benjamin, but they did not. Look for Benjamin to take a bigger role into the playoffs, but if he does not, don’t expect the Chiefs to make any efforts to re-sign him in the offseason.

Finally, Damien Williams showed that he is a reliable back. The Chiefs can count on Williams who finished the day with 11 carries for 51 yds and a touchdown.

DEFENSE

The defense this week forced plenty of takeaways, collecting four turnovers against Oakland—two fumble recoveries and two interceptions, and one of those was a pick-six by Daniel Sorensen.

When we look at the snap count it appears that the secondary has been solidified, except for the biggest question of Eric Berry. Berry once again was sidelined due to a setback during the Seahawks game last week. In his absence, Jordan Lucas and Eric Murray split the reps, and both played very well in the absence of the All-Pro safety. Yet the question still remains, if and when Berry comes back, how much will he play?

The corners have been solidified after this week. Kendall Fuller and Steven Nelson are going to be the starters on the outside, and Charvarius Ward is going to stay in the slot (leaving Orlando Scandrick with less playing time). Overall the secondary played very well, which points upwards for the Chiefs in the playoffs.

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After Week 17, there are few questions about what the team will look like in the playoffs except where will some of the injured players could fit in—mainly offensive lineman Laurent Duvernay-Tardif and wide receiver Sammy Watkins. LDT would be a big boost for an offensive line that has performed at a high level in his absence, but if Sammy Watkins can be healthy he will be another piece in an offense that has no signs of slowing down heading into the postseason.

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