Cardinals’ Week 1 defensive snap counts, observations vs. Chiefs
The Arizona Cardinals played 70 defensive snaps in Week 1 during their 44-21 loss to the Kansas City Chiefs.
Let’s take a look at the individual snap counts for the Cardinals’ defensive players, divided by position group, and see what we can take away from the numbers.
List
Takeaways in the Cardinals' 44-21 loss to the Chiefs
Listen to the latest from Cards Wire’s Jess Root on his podcast, Rise Up, See Red. Subscribe on Apple podcasts or Spotify.
Latest show:
Previous shows:
and
Defensive line
Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports
Zach Allen, 58; Michael Dogbe, 36; Leki Fotu, 34; Rashard Lawrence, 29; Jonathan Ledbetter, 20
Allen was the workhorse, as he was last season. He will play a lot of snaps, while the rest are rotated fairly evenly.
Outside linebacker
Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports
Devon Kennard, 35; Markus Golden, 28; Victor Dimukeje, 26; Dennis Gardeck, 20; Cameron Thomas, 4
Kennard with the most snaps at the position, just like we all predicted. Of course, Golden had barely practiced in the last month, so he was probably on a pitch count.
Inside linebacker
Zaven Collins, 67; Isaiah Simmons, 61; Nick Vigil, 36; Zeke Turner, 16; Tanner Vallejo, 12
Collins played a career-high in snaps. It was interesting to see Vigil come out for Turner in passing downs.
Vallejo came in at the end and also spelled Simmons for a couple of snaps.
Cornerback
Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports
Byron Murphy, 70; Marco Wilson, 67; Jace Whittaker, 9; Christian Matthew, 1
Wilson only came out in the end when he got hurt. Kliff Kingsbury had said that Matthew would be the third corner. They instead went with Isaiah Simmons doing a lot of covering in the slot and with Whittaker, who knows the defense better than Matthew.
Safety
Michael Chow-USA TODAY Sports
Jalen Thompson, 70; Budda Baker, 65
Bake came off the field at the end.
