Chiefs snap counts: Ben Niemann earns tons of playing time against Dolphins

Let’s reflect on what we can learn from this week’s snap counts from the Chiefs-Dolphins game.

It wasn’t pretty, but the standings won’t judge a team’s methods. The Kansas City Chiefs put away the Miami Dolphins on the road in Week 14 and, in the end, that’s all that matters. Or is it? Either way, for now, we’re reflecting back on the weird win heading into a new week.

For this week’s look at snap counts, we see some intriguing things at linebacker and in the backfield along with a stubborn refusal for change along the offensive line. Let’s take a look.

Offensive line

Let’s be honest: we all thought we’d see some change along the offensive line by this point, right? I mean, Martinas Rankin was a healthy scratch and Stefen Wisniewski sat on the bench. Meanwhile, the only shift in the starting five of Eric Fisher, Nick Allegretti, Austin Reiter, Andrew Wylie, and Mike Remmers came when the latter was injured and Yasir Durant was forced into action.

Given the myriad issues that have plagued the Chiefs up front—from protection concerns for Patrick Mahomes to an inability to generate enough push to move the ball a single yard in the red zone—it’s surprising that Andy Reid and his staff haven’t made any changes to the starting lineup. The postseason is coming into view and yet the Chiefs don’t seem remotely interested in altering the chemistry here.

Maybe changes are still forthcoming or maybe some potential players need on-boarding a bit more for reasons unknown. However it looks as if maybe the coaching staff thinks more favorably of some players than outsiders.

Ben Niemann

The Chiefs linebacker earned significant playing time on Sunday in the absence of Damien Wilson, who sat due to a knee injury on Sunday. While Niemann was guaranteed to play quite a bit, I don’t think anyone in Chiefs Kingdom expected him to play 90 percent of all defensive snaps. In fact, only Dan Sorensen, Tyrann Mathieu and Bashaud Breeland earned more playing time on defense than Niemann.

Think what you will of Niemann, but the Chiefs coaches clearly love him and are giving him plenty of chances week after week. With 13 more snaps than Anthony Hitchens and Willie Gay, Jr. combined, the whole situation is not what you’d expect near season’s end in K.C.

Clyde vs. Le’Veon

Le’Veon Bell has looked good in the limited reps he’s been given in Kansas City so far. After getting over 50 percent of snaps last week in the absence of Clyde Edwards-Helaire, it was interesting to see Bell relegated right back to less than a dozen total snaps on Sunday.

Edwards-Helaire missed Week 13 due to an illness, which led to a near-equal tandem of Bell and Darrel Williams. However in this contest, Edwards-Helaire played 78 percent of all offensive snaps while Bell played on 18 percent. What seemed to be trending upward is suddenly back to early reps for Bell. It will be interesting to watch how this works once the postseason begins.

Derrick Nnadi

Nnadi is such a solid, consistent player in the middle of the Chiefs defensive line, and it’s a shame he’s so overlooked given the well-paid figures surrounding him. But if you haven’t been paying attention, it might have been surprising to see Nnadi’s playing time slip to the point where he was equalled by Mike Pennel and passed by Tershawn Wharton in the number of snaps.

Wharton has been a nice story himself along the defensive interior, and against the Dolphins, Wharton played 57 percent of all snaps. (Chris Jones played 71 percent for reference.) Nnadi got on the field for 34 percent while Pennel played 32 percent.

Back to Nnadi. While he often starts games up front, this isn’t the first game where his playing time has slipped to a mere third of all defensive snaps. Since Week 7, Nnadi has played in approximately one third of the Chiefs snaps in a given game on four separate occasions (in seven games). That happened only once in the first six games of the season.