Player Snap Counts
Overview
Pro Football Reference carries unofficial snap count data beginning with the 2012 season. Snap counts appear in two places, on individual player pages and on team pages, and are broken out into offensive, defensive, and special teams snaps. The two locations calculate their percentages differently, as summarized below.
The key distinction: player pages vs. team pages
The raw snap totals are the same in both places. The percentages are not, because each uses a different denominator.
| Location | Percentage is calculated against |
|---|---|
| Player snap counts | Only the snaps in games the player appeared in |
| Team snap counts | All snaps the team took over the entire season |
A player page answers the question "how much did this player play when he was available?" A team page answers "how much of the team's full season did this player account for?"
When the two figures match
If a player appeared in every one of his team's games that season, the two denominators are identical, and both pages will show the same percentage. Any missed games will cause the figures to diverge, with the team page percentage always being the lower of the two.
Example
The example below uses Patrick Mahomes' 2025 season, in which he suffered a season-ending injury in the 14th game of the season.
The Chiefs ran 1,113 offensive snaps in the 2025 season. Mahomes appeared in 14 games, and in those 14 games, the Chiefs took 963 offensive snaps. He was on the field for 934 of them.
- Player page: 934 of 963 snaps = 97%
- Team snap count page: 934 of 1,113 snaps = 83.92%
Both figures are correct. The first describes his role when he played; the second reflects that he missed part of the season.
Practical guidance
- Use player page percentages to evaluate a player's role, workload, or usage rate while active.
- Use team page percentages to assess a player's total contribution to a season, or to compare players on the same team across differing availability.
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