:format(webp)/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/19794225/20130915_lbm_ah3_031.0.jpg)
A tweet sent out Wednesday by ESPN.com's Mike Sando pointed out that no two teams have had more drafted rookies play on offense and defense this year than the Buffalo Bills and the New York Jets, who square off in Week 3.
Most off/def snaps from 2013 draft picks (most but not all with original tms): Bills 440, Jets 411, Jaguars 406, Rams 358, Redskins 332.
— Mike Sando, ESPN.com (@SandoESPN) September 18, 2013
One of the predominant themes of this Sunday's matchup between the Bills and the Jets is each team's reliance on rookies - particularly at the quarterback position, where EJ Manuel and Geno Smith will each be making his third start in the NFL. Sando's tweet got me thinking: if we add in undrafted rookies and special teams snaps, what does the gap look like?
The short answer: the Bills are the more rookie-reliant team by a fairly considerable margin. Here is the breakdown of the rookies that the Bills and Jets have played through two games; for the sake of brevity, we combined a player's snap count into one lump sum.
| Rd (Ovr) | Player | Pos. | College | W1 | W2 | Total |
| 2 (46) | Kiko Alonso | LB | Oregon | 97 | 84 | 181 |
| 2 (41) | Robert Woods | WR | USC | 64 | 78 | 142 |
| 1 (16) | EJ Manuel | QB | Florida State | 63 | 75 | 138 |
| UDFA | Nickell Robey | CB | USC | 68 | 43 | 111 |
| 4 (105) | Duke Williams | S | Nevada | 19 | 23 | 42 |
| 5 (143) | Jonathan Meeks | S | Clemson | 17 | 17 | 34 |
| 3 (78) | Marquise Goodwin | WR | Texas | 15 | 0 | 15 |
| UDFA | Johnny Adams | CB | Michigan State | 0 | 6 | 6 |
| 6 (177) | Dustin Hopkins | K | Florida State | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 7 (222) | Chris Gragg | TE | Arkansas | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| UDFA | Jeff Tuel | QB | Washington State | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Bills team total | 669 | |||||
| 2 (39) | Geno Smith | QB | West Virginia | 75 | 71 | 146 |
| 1 (13) | Sheldon Richardson | DT | Missouri | 62 | 63 | 125 |
| 1 (9) | Dee Milliner | CB | Alabama | 62 | 39 | 101 |
| 7 (215) | Tommy Bohanon | FB | Wake Forest | 38 | 36 | 74 |
| UDFA | Ryan Spadola | WR | Lehigh | 19 | 7 | 26 |
| 3 (72) | Brian Winters | OG | Kent State | 4 | 3 | 7 |
| 5 (141) | Oday Aboushi | OT | Virginia | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 6 (178) | Will Campbell | OG | Michigan | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Jets team total | 479 |