The Kansas City Chiefs kicked off the 2022 NFL season with a 44-21 victory over the Arizona Cardinals on the road.
All three phases of the game dominated and as a result, every player active in the game got a chance to contribute. Several rookies saw big-time action in the season opener, but none of them played more snaps in Week 1 than George Karlaftis.
Only Creed Humphrey and Joe Thuney played 100% of the offensive snaps in Week 1. The starters were replaced late in the fourth quarter because of the dominant nature of the game.
Marquez Valdes-Scantling had the highest snap share of the Chiefs’ new receivers with 73% of the offensive snaps. Skyy Moore had the lowest with just 19% of the snaps on offense.
Clyde Edwards-Helaire and Jerick McKinnon had a true 50-50 split in snaps on Sunday, with each playing 27 total snaps on offense. Isiah Pacheco wasn’t too far behind with 16 total snaps.
Noah Gray saw the second-most snaps among Chiefs tight ends to Travis Kelce with 37 total snaps.
On defense, L’Jarius Sneed played the most snaps with 88% of the defensive snaps on the day. Elijah Lee and Chris Lammons tied for the fewest defensive snaps with eight apiece.
George Karlaftis led all Chiefs rookies in snap total with 51% of the defensive snaps. He played 20 more snaps than the next defensive rookie (Trent McDuffie). Karlaftis was quite productive during his pass-rushing snaps too.
Justin Reid tied for the third-most snaps among Chiefs defenders with 50 snaps. That was all while playing double duty on special teams as the emergency kicker. He had two extra point attempts and six kickoffs on the night.
Who are Dave Toub’s new special teams aces? Elijah Lee and Deon Bush joined Chris Lammons in the 20 special teams snaps club. Bryan Cook had 19 snaps, Jody Fortson had 17 and Noah Gray had 16.
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