Obvious changes were ahead for the Kansas City Chiefs backfield coming into Week 9. However, predicting those shifts proved to be more problematic than expected.
With Isiah Pacheco out for Week 9 (and potentially beyond) with an MCL sprain, the Chiefs were going to make some moves to live without their lead back. The team's battering ram, veteran Kareem Hunt, was primed for more carries in a more dominant role, but there was also room in the backfield for someone new to step in or step up.
The best guess for the latter was Brashard Smith. The Chiefs' seventh-round rookie had shown enough in the season's first half to safely say he offered the most dynamism of anyone who could line up at running back versus the Bills. Chiefs coaches had even stated in press conferences that they were hoping to get Smith an increased workload. Opportunity was knocking.
Shortly before game day, signs for a breakout day for Smith were stronger. The Chiefs promoted Clyde Edwards-Helaire from the practice squad in anticipation of the game. Subsequent reports then stated that K.C. was going to elevate CEH over Elijah Mitchell, a veteran back added in free agency who has sat on the bench for all eight games so far as a healthy scratch.
That Edwards-Helaire was going to be the only other option for the Chiefs' ground game other than Hunt and Smith looked like a big win for the rookie. Certainly, head coach Andy Reid wouldn't overload an aging and limited Hunt, right? Certainly, the Chiefs wouldn't really give the ball to CEH straight from the practice squad? What's that saying about assumptions?
Brashard Smith's snap counts were quite confusing on Sunday against the Bills.
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Smith played 12 offensive snaps for the Chiefs on Sunday. That's three more snaps than he had the previous week (9) against the Washington Commanders.
Other than giving Smith an abundance of snaps with other backups in runaway victories, the Chiefs have kept a tight leash on their rookie back in tight matchups. Smith is averaging 7.7 snaps per game outside of the team's steamrolling of the Baltimore Ravens in Week 5 (in which Smith had 19 snaps) and the historic domination of the Las Vegas Raiders in Week 7 (in which Smith had 28 snaps).
To the Chiefs' credit, very little worked well on Sunday offensively. Trey Smith played through back pain. Jawaan Taylor was injured. Kingsley Suamataia even got hurt in the final quarter for a minute. While Jaylon Moore deserves credit for stepping in on the left side, Patrick Mahomes clearly misses having Josh Simmons at left tackle as well. When the line is banged up, it's hard to get anything moving.
For his part, Smith managed a meager 7 yards on 3 carries and failed to register a single catch while being targeted only once. In short, he played very few snaps, and even those weren't effective. Whether that's a chicken-or-egg scenario is up for debate, but several things the Chiefs tried (or did not try) offensively against Buffalo were questionable. Add Smith's snap counts to the list.