The Kansas City Chiefs did enough to win against the Houston Texans in the divisional round of the NFL playoffs, but now it’s time for the reigning back-to-back champions to evaluate Saturday’s win while preparing for the Buffalo Bills in the AFC championship game.

What surprises came from the Chiefs’ usage of noteworthy players against Houston? A closer look at Kansas City’s snap counts tells several stories worth following.

Receiver rotation remains enigmatic

The Chiefs’ tight end usage was largely par for the course with Travis Kelce recording 76% of Kansas City’s offensive snaps while Noah Gray took 57% and Peyton Hendershot took 27%, though those are season-low numbers for Kelce.

Kelce’s single-game low-percentage mark in 2024 was 77%, while his lowest total snap count number in the regular season was 44. It’s worth noting the slightly decreased workload for Kelce, but KC’s 51 total offensive snaps on Saturday were also a season-low for the Chiefs’ offense with Mahomes at quarterback.

The wide receiver rotation is where the Chiefs’ personnel usage becomes even more interesting.

Rookie Xavier Worthy led Chiefs receivers by taking 42 of the Chiefs’ 51 offensive snaps (82%). Worthy was also the only Chiefs wide receiver to catch a pass on Saturday. Kelce led KC’s pass catchers with Worthy and Gray in tow.

Meanwhile, Marquise “Hollywood” Brown took 34 snaps (67%) but received two incomplete targets. JuJu Smith-Schuster took 21 reps (41%) and was targeted once. DeAndre Hopkins took just 16 snaps (31%) and also received just one target. Justin Watson received his lightest workload of the season by a wide margin, recording only four snaps (8%). Watson’s previous season-low was his 21-snap day (34%) against the Pittsburgh Steelers on Christmas.

Hopkins’s snap count is also his lowest mark of the season after playing at least 23 snaps in every other game as a Chief. That 23-snap game (32%) was Hopkins’s Chiefs debut.

It’s hard to imagine Hopkins not receiving a larger workload in the AFC championship game, but it would have been hard to envision the veteran getting fewer than 20 snaps in the divisional round. While Watson appears to be largely phased out as the postseason rotation tightens, will Hopkins remain a niche player, or will the game plan evolve for Buffalo?

The Texans have two exceptional corners and Andy Reid built the entire plane today out of avoiding them. Going at the backers and safeties all day.

— Mina Kimes (@minakimes) January 18, 2025

Jaylen Watson gets significant (but not entire) workload in return

Cornerback Jaylen Watson took 40 of the Chiefs’ 68 defensive snaps (59%) on Saturday, giving Watson the second-highest workload among Chiefs cornerbacks, trailing only Trent McDuffie (63 snaps, 93%). The Chiefs’ next choice at cornerback was clearly defined as Steve Spagnuolo chose to play Nazeeh Johnson for 34 snaps (50%) while Chris Roland-Wallace took three snaps and Joshua Williams took zero.

Assuming that Watson felt good following Saturday’s showdown, his workload should increase against Buffalo. Still, the Chiefs will need to rely on at least three cornerbacks in coverage on a regular basis. With Chamarri Conner (50 snaps, 74%) back in the slot corner role for the vast majority of his work on Saturday, the Chiefs will likely plan on McDuffie, Watson and Conner staying on the field for the majority of the AFC championship game, while Johnson appears to have the clear upper hand over Williams as the next man up.

Defensive line dominance comes from usual cast

The Chiefs’ defensive line controlled much of the divisional round matchup, ending the game with eight sacks of Texans quarterback C.J. Stroud. Defensive end George Karlaftis led Chiefs D-linemen in sacks (three) and snaps taken (58, 85%), with defensive tackle Chris Jones (one sack, 52 snaps, 76%) close behind.

Mike Danna was next in snaps taken (43 snaps, 63%), just ahead of Tershawn Wharton (39, 57%) and Charles Omenihu (35, 51%). The rotation was rounded out by run-stuffers Mike Pennel (20 snaps, 29%) and Derrick Nnadi (nine snaps, 13%) in addition to second-year end Felix Anudike-Uzomah, who recorded a sack on one of his six snaps (9%).