The Arizona Cardinals played 73 defensive snaps on Sunday in their 20-17 loss to the Philadelphia Eagles. How was the playing time divided up?
Below, we go through individual player snap counts, grouped by position, and explain what we can take away from the numbers.
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Defensive line
Zach Allen, 58; J.J. Watt, 55; Leki Fotu, 39; Michael Dogbe, 22; Jonathan Ledbetter, 12
Watt played a larger share and Allen continues to play a heavy role defensively. The Cardinals used a lot of base fronts with Watt or Allen playing on the edge.
Outside linebacker
Markus Golden, 41; Devon Kennard, 20; Dennis Gardeck, 16; Victor Dimukeje, 16; Cameron Thomas, 10; Myjai Sanders, 8
Sanders got his first NFL snaps. Golden played the most and had almost no production.
Inside linebacker
Zaven Collins, 73; Isaiah Simmons, 67; Ben Niemann, 45; Tanner Vallejo, 12
Collins again played every snap and Simmons play a lot, although he was almost exclusively used in the slot, so he wasn’t really doing linebacker things. He was even called upon to cover receiver Quez Watkins.
Cornerback
Byron Murphy, 73; Marco Wilson, 68; Antonio Hamilton, 16
Wilson only came off the field when the Cardinals went with only one cornerback and three safeties. Hamilton got his first action of the season in specific packages.
Safeties
Budda Baker, 73; Jalen Thompson, 73; Chris Banjo, 5
Banjo came on for five plays in which the Cardinals went big. Neither Baker nor Thompson came off the field defensively.
