Skip to main content
Advertising

Arizona Cardinals Home: The official source of the latest Cardinals headlines, news, videos, photos, tickets, rosters and game day information

WordFromTheBirds-category-logo-v4

Presented by

Of Snap Counts And Grades: Chiefs Game

Clarity on RB2, and Kennard is used often

Until a game is played, it's difficult to know exactly how Kliff Kingsbury and Vance Joseph was going to dole out some of the playing time. And even after the game against the Chiefs Sunday, it's clear injuries and missing players impacted some things that will change as time goes by.

But there were a couple of snap counts that stood out to me Sunday. On defense -- owed in part that Markus Golden was limited as he came back from the toe injury that essentially cost him a month of practice -- it was the practice squad's Devon Kennard that had the most snaps of all the outside linebackers at 35 (of 70 defensive snaps). Golden had 28, Victor Dimukeje had 26, and Dennis Gardeck had 20.

The other one that caught the eye was at running back. Of 65 offensive snaps, James Conner was on the field for 47 of 65 offensive snaps, but was out there for 96 of the first-half snaps. Eno Benjamin is your No. 2 (22 snaps). Darrel Williams did not play an offensive snap (but had 15 special teams snaps.)

As for some other interesting snap counts:

-- Greg Dortch, filling in for the injured Rondale Moore, played 59 snaps. Andy Isabella had 21, many late in the game. Hollywood Brown was in for 62 plays, A.J. Green 48.

-- Tight end Zach Ertz was limited because of his calf; he played 39 snaps. Maxx Williams was in for 10, Stephen Anderson 9.

-- On defense, cornerback Byron Murphy and safety Jalen Thompson were the two players who played all 70 snaps.

-- Zach Allen had 58 snaps, no other defensive lineman played more than 36.

-- DC Vance Joseph said linebacker Zaven Collins was going to be out there all the time and he was, at 67 snaps. Safety Budda Baker was at 65. Linebacker Isaiah Simmons and cornerback Marco Wilson were at 61, although Wilson missed a couple late in the game after getting hurt (he said he was fine.)

-- Practice squad callup cornerback Jace Whittaker had nine snaps, while cornerback Christian Matthew had just one.

-- The first Pro Football Focus grades (yes, take them for what they are worth) were not surprisingly great. On offense, Benjamin had the highest grade at 81.6, followed by tackle Kelvin Beachum (72.1), Brown (71.6), tackle D.J. Humphries (69.7) and guard WIll Hernandez (67.2). Fill-in guard Sean Harlow, who has been at center all camp before being forced to start on the left side, had the lowest offensive grade, under 30.

Defensively, Gardeck was at 91.9, defensive lineman Rashard Lawrence was at 89.8 and Kennard was at 62.6. But eight players who played at least 20 snaps were under a 50 grade, including Collins and Simmons.

LB Dennis Gardeck
LB Dennis Gardeck

Related Content

Advertising