Broncos get major clarity on Chiefs' plan to rest starters in Week 18

The Kansas City Chiefs will go into this game resting a ton of starters, and the Denver Broncos finally have some clarity on this. This is one of those rare instances where a team has, legitimately, nothing to gain in a game and everything to lose. Now yes, the Chiefs resting their starters is a good thing for the backups, but they have already clinched the no. 1 seed in the AFC.

There is no reward here and a ton of risk. Some folks may disagree with the idea of KC resting a ton of players, but the Broncos and the NFL world have finally gotten some kind-of official word on who won't be out there for the Chiefs on Sunday:

The Kansas City Chiefs are resting... almost everyone

By my count, that's at least 11 starters who should not be out there for the Chiefs: Chris Jones, Patrick Mahomes, Trent McDuffie, Nick Bolton, Kareem Hunt, George Karlaftis, Travis Kelce, Justin Reed, Drue Tranquill, Isiah Pacheco, and Jawaan Taylor.

And there could be more starters who are active during the game but also do not see any snaps. There is no one 'right' way to go about resting starters, but it seems like the Kansas City Chiefs do plan on resting at least 50% of their offensive and defensive starters.

If I had to guess, I would think that some starters here and there may get some snaps, but any sort of higher-leverage situation would not see starters out on the field. The Denver Broncos cannot have a more favorable matchup in front of them here in Week 18. They're at home and also wearing the amazing and iconic throwback jerseys.

There truly is no excuse for this team losing this game, and if they do, I can only imagine the emotional fallout. One huge thing that helps them is the amount of starters, at least based on this report, that will not be out there in Week 18 for this must-win game.