3 players who must be benched following Broncos brutal loss to Chiefs

The Denver Broncos should not be afraid to make some lineup changes after their brutal loss to the Kansas City Chiefs in Week 10. I have not had a harder time accepting a loss in recent memory than this one. The Broncos outplayed the Chiefs, and Bo Nix outplayed Patrick Mahomes.

Yet, the Broncos still lost. It's the worst possible outcome for this team. Denver clearly played the game they had hoped to play and were in a position to kick the game-winning field goal and ultimately keep Patrick Mahomes off the field.

Well, going into their next three games before the bye week, Denver needs to consider benching these three players.

3 players who must be benched following Broncos brutal loss to Chiefs
Javonte Williams, RB

Maybe this sounds mean, but I am so OK with Javonte Williams not getting another carry the rest of the season. His longest rush since his rookie season is just 21 yards, and he's again averaging less than four yards per carry this year. In Week 10, he got just one carry.

And rookie RB Audric Estime ended up getting 14 carries. Estime has carried the ball 29 times this season for 148 yards, so he's averaging 5.1 yards per carry. It's clear that Estime is the more efficient back, and with him getting the bulk of the workload in Week 10, you have to wonder if this is the much-needed beginning of the end for Javonte Williams.

The Broncos should continue keeping Williams off the field unless it's for pass-blocking purposes, and Estime should continue getting the bulk of the carries. Javonte Williams is a free agent in 2025, and it just does not seem like Denver is even going to entertain bringing Williams back.

Javonte Williams offers virtually nothing as a runner at this point, so the Broncos should give the RB1 duties to Audric Estime going forward.

Alex Forsyth, OL

Soon after the game was over, people did some digging and found out that Broncos OL Alex Forsyth has been getting his rear end kicked on field goals and extra points for a large portion of the season:

You never want to pinpoint blame to just one player, but this game can be seen as Forsyth's fault, and it's odd that the very good Broncos special teams unit hasn't made a change in their field goal protection unit. I mean, this has happened to Forsyth several times in 2024. What would ST coach Ben Kotwica be waiting for?

Does he just not see Forsyth making these mistakes? It's confusing, and it's incredibly frustrating as well. At some point, the Broncos must cycle someone else into this FG protection unit, or it's going to hurt the Broncos even more.

Josh Reynolds, WR

It's not that Broncos WR Josh Reynolds has done anything wrong, but rookie WR Devaughn Vele has really taken advantage of his opportunities while Reynolds remains on IR. Vele has caught 81.5% of his targets this year for 215 yards and one touchdown. He was clutch in Week 10 and caught his first NFL touchdown against the Chiefs.

Many people have already made the comparison to Tim Patrick and have said that Vele is the Broncos new version of "Timmy P." If that's the case, Denver found a gem. Going forward, Josh Reynolds absolutely needs to see the field when he is healthy, but I am not sure he should be getting more reps on offense than Vele, who is proving to be a more reliable player.

Getting Reynolds back does give Bo Nix another weapon, but again, Vele has played well enough to perhaps vault over Reynolds on the depth chart. It's all about taking advantage of opportunities in the NFL.