The Chiefs’ snap counts from the loss to Seattle tell a pretty clear story: some players are climbing into bigger roles, while others are hanging on by a thread.
Seattle forced Kansas City into base defense far more often than usual, and that showed up in the usage numbers right away. Linebacker Jack Cochrane and defensive tackle Khyiris Tonga both saw a noticeable jump in snaps because of it. At the same time, safeties Alohi Gilman and Jaden Hicks were stuck on the sideline for half the game.
Looking across the full season, though, there are a few sharper takeaways from the latest week.
Chris Roland-Wallace is making the strongest case for more time in the slot. With the Chiefs having trouble getting off the field on third downs, defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo turned to Roland-Wallace more after L'Jarius Sneed struggled in coverage early.
Roland-Wallace finished with 31 snaps, or 45 percent, which was a season high. Sneed played only 14 snaps, or 20 percent, his lowest mark of the year.
Sneed still matters, but Kansas City has to find ways to cover for what he can’t do right now. For the moment, Roland-Wallace looks like the better bet to keep seeing the field.
On the offensive side, Travis Kelce’s ankle doesn’t appear to be a lingering problem. He had been dealing with soreness in Week 6 and was getting extra tape support from trainers on the sideline.
He was limited in practice all week before facing Seattle, but he avoided an injury designation and then handled 83 percent of the snaps on Sunday. With Kansas City trying to dig out of an early hole, load management wasn’t really on the menu.
The encouraging part is that the ankle seems to have been only a short-term issue.
There’s also been no sign yet that Diego Pounds is moving out of stash territory. The undrafted offensive tackle came over in a minor preseason trade with the Baltimore Ravens and spent the first six weeks of the season as a healthy inactive, essentially being protected from other teams.
Even with injuries piling up on both sides of the offensive line, he stayed parked on the sideline while Kahlil Benson and Josh Ezeudu played every snap against Seattle. Pounds could help if things get desperate, but if he couldn’t crack the rotation in that situation, it’s hard to see him becoming part of the weekly plan before Week 18.
Justin Watson may be starting to work his way back into the picture, though the sample is still tiny. He returned to Kansas City as a free agent during the bye and logged just one snap in Week 6.
Against Seattle, he caught his first pass from Patrick Mahomes and played five snaps, which works out to 9 percent. If rookie Cyrus Allen can’t be trusted to line up properly and Rashee Rice is still not ready for Week 8 because of his hamstring, Watson should have a chance to take on more.
The Chiefs need help stretching the field against Denver, and Watson can at least provide that.
Ashton Gillotte is another player trending in the right direction. After starting the year with a foot injury, the second-year defensive end has seen his workload rise steadily, from 43 percent in Week 4 to 53 percent in Week 6 and 58 percent against the Seahawks.
He backed that up with another strong showing in a tough overall game for Kansas City, following up his career-best performance against the L.A. Chargers in Week 6.
Gillotte has been getting after the quarterback and holding up well against the run, and the snap count bump suggests he’s getting healthier as he goes.
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