The Kansas City Chiefs opened the 2023 NFL preseason with a loss to the New Orleans Saints on Sunday. That game gave fans the first true look at the 90-man offseason roster in game-day activities. 

It's tough to glean a whole lot of information from the preseason snaps given the sheer number of players to get snaps, but it's still a worthy endeavor to dive in and see what we can learn from the weekly snap count numbers. 

Here’s a look at how the snaps came down in preseason Week 1 followed by some takeaways:

Snap counts via NFL Game Stats Information System

Justin Watson isn't going anywhere

In the preseason, sometimes you can learn more about the team's plans for the season from players who don't play a whole lot. Justin Watson, for instance, played just five snaps on offense all game and they all came with the first-team offense. Do you know who else played five snaps on the first-team offense? Travis Kelce. 

Watson also played on special teams, but he didn't play with any of the starting special teams units. Why? Because Watson is viewed by the coaching staff as a starter on offense, not a starter on special teams. That's a big misnomer about his 2022 NFL season — he didn't play an abundance of special teams, but he played a ton on offense.

It's time to rip the band-aid off, Chiefs Kingdom. Watson has a role and he plays it well. The coaches like him. His teammates like him. Does he need to improve his completion percentage in 2023? There is no question about it. Preseason Week 1 suggests the guy is closer to a roster lock than he is to getting cut or traded.

Wanya Morris leads all rookies

Being the snap leader isn't always a good thing during the preseason. Chiefs rookie OT Wanya Morris was playing a lot in preseason Week 1 with 48 combined offense and special teams snaps. I think it mostly has to do with the team wanting to get him a large number of snaps at both left tackle (26 snaps) and right tackle (20 snaps).

Morris was playing in the fourth quarter and he had a few bad snaps against guys who might not even make a practice squad let alone an NFL team. According to PFF, he had three pressures (two hurries and a QB hit), which was the most by any Chiefs O-Linemen. This is certainly something to monitor as it relates to the battle for the swing tackle position, but I think it'd be an overreaction to be too worried about it.

Special teams snaps matter

One of the most important things you can take away from preseason snaps with the Chiefs is what all happens on special teams. Dave Toub has a lot of control over the bottom of the roster in Kansas City and those who contribute most on special teams usually stick around on the roster or the practice squad.

On the opening kickoff, some of the notable names who saw snaps were Justyn Ross, Nic Jones, Jack Cochrane, Deon Bush, Chamarri Conner, Matt Bushman, and Deneric Prince. The leaders in special teams snaps on Sunday: Matt Bushman (12), Kendall Blanton (11), La'Mical Perine (10), Cam Jones (10), and Dicaprio Bootle (10). 

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Featured image via Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports