The Arizona Cardinals played 70 defensive snaps in Week 1 during their 44-21 loss to the Kansas City Chiefs.
Let’s take a look at the individual snap counts for the Cardinals’ defensive players, divided by position group, and see what we can take away from the numbers.
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Defensive line
Zach Allen, 58; Michael Dogbe, 36; Leki Fotu, 34; Rashard Lawrence, 29; Jonathan Ledbetter, 20
Allen was the workhorse, as he was last season. He will play a lot of snaps, while the rest are rotated fairly evenly.
Outside linebacker
Devon Kennard, 35; Markus Golden, 28; Victor Dimukeje, 26; Dennis Gardeck, 20; Cameron Thomas, 4
Kennard with the most snaps at the position, just like we all predicted. Of course, Golden had barely practiced in the last month, so he was probably on a pitch count.
Inside linebacker
Zaven Collins, 67; Isaiah Simmons, 61; Nick Vigil, 36; Zeke Turner, 16; Tanner Vallejo, 12
Collins played a career-high in snaps. It was interesting to see Vigil come out for Turner in passing downs.
Vallejo came in at the end and also spelled Simmons for a couple of snaps.
Cornerback
Byron Murphy, 70; Marco Wilson, 67; Jace Whittaker, 9; Christian Matthew, 1
Wilson only came out in the end when he got hurt. Kliff Kingsbury had said that Matthew would be the third corner. They instead went with Isaiah Simmons doing a lot of covering in the slot and with Whittaker, who knows the defense better than Matthew.
Safety
Jalen Thompson, 70; Budda Baker, 65
Bake came off the field at the end.
