Chiefs

Chiefs snap counts: Travis Kelce played this position for only 4th time in his career

The announcement came in the third quarter of Sunday’s Chiefs-Vikings game: Travis Kelce had suffered an ankle injury was questionable to return to the game.

Not only did Kelce return, he caught a touchdown pass in the 27-20 triumph and did something that had occurred only three other times in his career.

He played a defensive snap.

Kelce was on the field for the final play of the game, when a Hail Mary was Minnesota’s final option. Quarterback Kirk Cousins never launched the attempt; he was sacked by Mike Danna.

But if Cousins fired, Kelce (and his big frame) was playing center field and patrolling the goal line on touchdown-prevention duty. Bad ankle and all.

Here are the snap counts from the game:

Offense | special teams

C Humphrey C 66 100% | 5 21%

D Smith T 66 100% | 5 21%

J Taylor T 66 100% | 5 21%

T Smith G 66 100% | 5 21%

P Mahomes QB 66 100%

J Thuney G 66 100%

N Gray TE 43 65% | 9 38%

M Valdes-Scantling WR 43 65%

T Kelce TE 39 59%

I Pacheco RB 39 59%

S Moore WR 37 56%

J Watson WR 29 44% | 6 25%

K Toney WR 25 38%

B Bell TE 20 30% | 6 25%

R Rice WR 20 30%

J McKinnon RB 18 27% | 9 38%

C Edwards-Helaire RB 9 14%

J Ross WR 6 9% | 10 42%

L Niang T 1 2% | 5 21%

N Allegretti G 1 2% | 5 21%

Defense/special teams

D Tranquill LB 72 100% | 5 21%

J Reid SS 72 100% | 4 17%

L Sneed CB 72 100%

T McDuffie CB 71 99% | 1 4%

M Danna DE 57 79% | 5 21%

G Karlaftis DE 57 79% | 5 21%

C Jones DT 56 78%

B Cook FS 55 76% | 5 21%

W Gay LB 51 71% | 1 4%

M Edwards FS 39 54% | 9 38%

D Nnadi DT 36 50% | 5 21%

J Watson CB 31 43% | 13 54%

J Williams CB 29 40% | 18 75%

M Herring DE 25 35%

F Anudike-Uzomah DE 25 35%

T Wharton DT 23 32% | 5 21%

L Chenal LB 13 18% | 19 79%

N Farrell DT 6 8%

C Conner FS 1 1% | 18 75%

J Cochrane LB 18 75%

C Jones LB 14 58%

N Jones CB 11 46%

T Kelce FS 1 1%

H Butker K 10 42%

J Winchester LS 8 33%

T Townsend P 8 33%

M Washington WR 7 29%

W Morris T 5 21%

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Blair Kerkhoff
The Kansas City Star
Blair Kerkhoff has covered sports for The Kansas City Star since 1989. He was elected to the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame in 2023.
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