Despite a series of injuries that challenged both sides of football, the Kansas City Chiefs it’s 8-0 later defeat the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Monday Night Football. As always, a closer look at KC’s snap counts can provide more context to some of the game’s biggest stories while keeping an eye on the Chiefs’ future.

After debuting with 23 offensive plays (32%) against the Las Vegas Raiders last weekveteran wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins more than duplicated that effort in his second game as a Chief. Taking 51 of 85 offensive snaps (60%) against the Buccaneers, Hopkins had eight receptions for 86 yards and two touchdowns.

Veteran wide receiver Justin Watson (59 snaps, 69%) and rookie Xavier Worthy (58, 68%) led wide receivers in snaps ahead of Hopkins, while Mecole Hardman (15, 18%) and Justyn Ross ( seven, 8%) completed the room.

With the aforementioned wide receiver issues challenging the passing weapons group, Kansas City’s top two tight ends took on their most snaps of the season on Monday night. Travis Kelce played 71 of 85 offensive snaps (84%), while Noah Gray played 59 (69%). Those actions aren’t the biggest percentage splits for either tight end in 2024, but 71 snaps for Kelce and 59 for Gray are season-high totals.

Gray didn’t catch a pass Monday night, but Kelce tied a career-high in receptions with 14 receptions on 16 targets for 100 yards. Kelce’s previous 14-catch game came in the playoffs against the Jacksonville Jaguars in January 2023, which included a touchdown pass from Chad Henne while Patrick Mahomes was out with an ankle injury.

By the light of Season-ending injuries to third and fourth tight ends Jared Wiley and Jody Fortson, Peyton Hendershot signed an active roster contract after spending the last few weeks on the practice squad. Hendershot took 14 offensive snaps (16%) plus 15 special teams snaps and had one catch for nine yards late in the fourth quarter.

The Chiefs had to pivot after losing starting No. 2 cornerback Jaylen Watson (ankle) for the foreseeable future before seeing next man Nazeeh Johnson (concussion) sidelined for the game against the Buccaneers, and Joshua Williams was the answer clear for Steve Spagnuolo. defense. Williams and No. 1 cornerback Trent McDuffie were the only two Chiefs defenders who played 100% of the snaps Monday night. although it was often not pleasant for Williams. Assuming Johnson returns in the next week or two, the 2022 seventh-rounder (Johnson) could return to jump over the 2022 fourth-rounder (Williams) when healthy. Defensive back/safety Nickel Chamarri Conner took 41 of KC’s 55 defensive snaps (75%), while undrafted rookie cornerback Chris Roland-Wallace played 22 (40%). Cornerbacks Keith Taylor and Nic Jones only saw the field on special teams.

Read more: Patrick Mahomes explains severity of ankle injury, Andy Reid describes ‘the loosest ankles in America’