Deciphering too much from a single game's snap counts can be a misleading effort. It's impossible to discern completely what a coaching staff is wanting to see, to emphasize, to protect while deciding which players will get snaps and which will not.
That said, snap counts point to larger patterns and offer up telling displays on which players are trusted (or not). That's certainly true when looking at snap counts from the Kansas City Chiefs' dominant win over the Detroit Lions in Week 6.
Here are some interesting (and disturbing) trends when looking at the Lions-Chiefs results from Sunday Night Football.
The unsustainable 80-20 split
The Chiefs allowed Chris Jones to play 81 percent of all defensive snaps on Sunday against the Lions. On the flip side, Omarr Norman-Lott only played 11 total snaps (or 20 percent). Tha's not sustainable for the Chiefs over the long haul.
While that's not a complete overlap, where one automatically subs for the other, the truth is that the Chiefs need to allow Jones to get more rest during the regular season than he's getting. Spags' defense goes as far as Jones goes, and allowing a 31-year-old engine with 166 total games of wear and tear to play that many reps isn't the best idea for long-term care.
Hopefully the Chiefs can take their foot off the gas in the defensive interior in recent weeks, starting with the Raiders on Sunday. This means easing Norman-Lott into the mix even more than he already is—growing pains and all.
No sense with Nnadi
The Chiefs' decision to bring Derrick Nnadi back into the fold was already a questionable move to start the season. The Chiefs punted Mike Pennel out the door and traded a future draft asset to bring back Nnadi, who had signed with the New York Jets in free agency. Given Nnadi's lack of production and declining (and already limited) skill set, it was a head-scratching deal for K.C.
Somehow, things are even more confusing when seeing Nnadi earning 46 percent of the snaps in Week 6 against the Lions. Nnadi is averaging 35 percent of snaps on the season, but he never even reached 28 percent in a regular-season game in 2024 (save for the season-ending game against Denver in which Andy Reid rested all of his starters).
In other words, the Chiefs are playing Nnadi more than they were a year ago when he was already a concern to be addressed.
Gray/Kelce splits are making more sense
The 2025 season has featured a slow evening out of the reps at tight end, with Travis Kelce slowly giving way to Noah Gray for a bit more playing time (or often together). It's a shift that makes sense for K.C. that accounts for Kelce's age and importance for postseason success.
On Sunday, Gray was given more snaps than Kelce (48 to 45) for the first time this season. Both players were healthy and effective, with Kelce leading the team in receiving yards (6 catches on 7 targets for 78 yards).
These snaps will fluctuate depending on the matchup and offensive game plan, but the trend is there. Whatever the Chiefs are doing here, it's working since Kelce is showing such steady production even after turning 36 years old earlier in October.