The latest snap counts are out for the Kansas City Chiefs in Week 2, and several interesting surprises (some heartening, some not so much) could be found when rounding up the figures from their overtime win over the Indianapolis Colts. Teams are still figuring out player usage in Week 2, so no one should be overly shocked at any present scenarios, but early trends are emerging and we've got our eye on them.
Here are some of the overlooked yet important talking points when glancing at the Chiefs snap counts for Week 2.
Jeffrey Bassa sits out
Jeffrey Bassa was penciled in for a lot more than this. Between Leo Chenal's offseason departure and the lack of any real exports, Bassa was in line for plenty of snaps in a new season. Then when Cooper McDonald landed on the shelf for at least four weeks (placed on injured reserve for a knee injury), the expectation was that fellow second-year linebacker would be tasked with even more. So imagine our surprise when Bassa got a single rep against the Colts despite being healthy. Instead, it was super-sub Jack Cochrane who played on 40 percent of snaps alongside or behind Nick Bolton and Drue Tranquill. Bassa's athleticism would play well alongside the infusion of speed and youth across the rest of the defense, but the Chiefs aren't ready to trust him just yet at that level.
Mansoor Delane does too
The absence of Delane has already been covered for the most part, but it bears repeating here for at least a moment. That a healthy Delane didn't get a single snap despite watching Daniel Jones get the best of Chiefs DBs on key downs for four quarters (and then some) was unsettling. Either he's healthy or he's not, but keeping things fuzzy is frustrating for fans wondering why an upgrade is sitting available on the sidelines.
CRW / Jadon Canady sit outside an inside role
Jadon Canady was drafted to be an insider. Chris Roland-Wallace already was. Even Kader Kohou was signed to be the same. When the Chiefs dealt Trent McDuffie to the L.A. Rams in a late-winter blockbuster trade, the Chiefs attempted to replace him in the aggregate with a plethora of options to play slot corner. But no one would have expected a reunion with L'Jarius Sneed to basically bounce everyone from the role. Roland-Wallace looked like the leader in camp. Canady is the long-term hope. But the former played 6 snaps, and Canady only got special teams action. Meanwhile, Kohou is on the practice squad. For now, it looks like none of the expected contestants are in the running.
Kenneth Walker is a bell cow
As good as Emmett Johnson has looked in limited stretches, the Chiefs aren't all that interested in making their backfield into a one-two tandem like what Kenneth Walker had with Zach Charbonnet in Seattle. Walker played on 82 percent of offensive snaps on Sunday night, while Johnson got only 18 percent of the playing time. Walker's dynamism was needed as often as possible, and the Chiefs are paying him to be an offensive pillar. Still the usage rate will be interesting to watch over time to see how sustainable the ratio is.
Safeties are being stretched
For the second consecutive game, defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo has asked his safeties to stay on the field on every single snap. Both Alohi Gilman, who signed a three-year deal this offseason in free agency, and Jaden Hicks, who is now in his third year, have played 100 percent of snaps for the Chiefs. That's easier in a blowout win over the Denver Broncos, where there are only 51 total snaps available on defense, than an overtime slugfest against Indy, in which there are 65. Chamarri Conner's knee injury is keeping the safety core stretched thin, so here's hoping things can ease up perhaps as soon as Week 3 with his return.
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