After a rough Week 17, the Chiefs’ special teams unit got back on track in Week 18 in a 31-13 win over the Las Vegas Raiders.
It’s good that special teams could be hitting their stride heading into the playoffs because the Chiefs will need to see mistake-free football from all three phases in order to make a Super Bowl run. Kansas City’s special teams was indeed mistake-free in Week 18, with some good plays being made by a few of the team’s rookies.
This week’s review will highlight the Chiefs’ rookie contributions on special teams, particularly from a few high performers. Additionally, check out my special teams stats, snap counts and grades for individual players via Google Sheets for a deeper look into the unit’s performance.
Kickoffs and punts: 2 rookies lead in tackles
The Chiefs currently roster 11 rookies. That’s over 20 percent of their 53-man roster devoted to first-year players. It’s not often that you see a Super Bowl-contending team (with the AFC’s No. 1 seed, no less) with such a young squad, yet K.C. made the most out of what was considered by some to be sort of a “rebuilding year” entering the 2022 season.
All 11 of those rookies played special teams this season, with 10 of them seeing significant time on certain subunits (the lone exception being offensive tackle Darian Kinnard who saw just six snaps on the field goal subunit in Week 5 and none since). Here’s how the special teams snap counts looked for Chiefs rookies in 2022 (out of 460 total snaps):
LB Leo Chenal: 281
S Bryan Cook: 272
LB Jack Cochrane: 262
CB Joshua Williams: 215
RB Isiah Pacheco: 124
CB Jaylen Watson: 114
DB Nazeeh Johnson: 96
DE George Karlaftis: 70
CB Trent McDuffie: 33
WR Skyy Moore: 31
OT Darian Kinnard: 6
Having 10 rookies play so many special teams snaps led to mixed results. The kick and punt return games were shaky all season due to fumbles and poor blocking, though the rookies weren’t all to blame for those issues.
The coverage squads, however, were elite. The Chiefs’ kickoff coverage subunit finished the season fourth in special teams DVOA by Football Outsiders while punt coverage finished second. The Chiefs can thank several rookies for the success on those squads, but two rookies stand out in particular: Cochrane and Johnson. Those two led the Chiefs in special teams tackles in 2022. Here are the full tackle numbers:
LB Darius Harris: 2
RB Jerick McKinnon: 2
RB Isiah Pacheco: 2
S Justin Reid: 2
S Ugo Amadi: 1
K Matt Ammendola: 1
LB Cole Christiansen: 1
TE Noah Gray: 1
WR Justin Watson: 1
LS James Winchester: 1
CB Joshua Williams: 1— Wes Roesch (@WesleyRoesch) January 8, 2023
The fact that Cochrane and Johnson lead this list is impressive for two reasons. First, Cochrane was an undrafted free agent who wasn’t even projected to make the 53-man roster by most pundits heading into the season. Cochrane didn’t make the initial roster but was called up from the practice squad after Week 1 and never looked back.
The second reason is that Johnson only played a little over 20 percent of the team’s special teams snaps, didn’t even see the field until Week 4 and also missed Weeks 7-10, yet finished second in tackles. Johnson notched at least one special teams tackle per game from Weeks 14-18, earning seven tackles in a five-game span.
Johnson’s special teams tackle in Week 18 came on punt coverage, assisted by linebacker Darius Harris:
Johnson also had another good play on punt coverage later on, downing a punt at the four-yard line:
I’ve talked a lot about how Johnson is coming into his own as a special teams ace, and it seems like he just keeps getting better each week. One day those skills will translate to the defense where Johnson has yet to see action.
Two more rookies whose special teams contributions are worth calling out are Chenal and Cook, who both finished in the team’s top five in special teams tackles with six apiece. One of Chenal’s tackles came during Week 18 — it was an assisted tackle on kickoff coverage along with fellow rookie Jaylen Watson:
It’s clear that the Chiefs still have plenty of room for improvement with both of their return games, but the coverage squads appear to be in great hands with the way they dominated this season despite having so much youth and so little pro experience.
More special teams notes
A few more special teams notes from Week 18:
- Cornerback Chris Lammons also had a nice downed punt at the five-yard line against the Raiders. Lammons led the team in downed punts with three this season.
- Despite suffering back spasms, kicker Harrison Butker managed to go 1-for-1 on field goals and 4-for-4 on extra points. Hopefully with the extra rest he’ll be fully healthy for the playoffs.
- The kickoff coverage unit allowed an average field position of the 24.44-yard line when the opposing team returned in 2022, so slightly better than the 25-yard touchback.
- For the second week in a row the Chiefs’ kick return squad didn’t return a normal kick (it had one onside kick return in Week 18). Teams are opting to kick the ball in the back of the end zone rather than kick to Pacheco.
- Pacheco’s average field position when returning this season was the 24.18-yard line, so the Chiefs are probably better off taking the touchbacks anyways.
- Despite fumbling in Week 17, the Chiefs went back to receiver Kadarius Toney for punt returns in Week 18. He had one return for five yards. It looks like Toney will be the team’s main punt returner heading into the playoffs.
