J.K. Dobbins and Jaylen Waddle give Broncos major Week 1 upside over Chiefs

The Denver Broncos open up the season against the Kansas City Chiefs, a team they swept in 2025 and have won three in a row against in total. The Chiefs are no slouches, though, as this team is still just one year removed from a Super Bowl appearance and two years removed from two-straight Super Bowl titles.

With that being said, this current Chiefs' group is a lot different than those Super Bowl squads. For Week 1, the Chiefs will be without left tackle Josh Simmons, and one of their starting safeties in Chamarri Conner. Denver needs to take advantage of those absences.

As for the Broncos, while the game promises to be a close one, the presence of J.K. Dobbins and Jaylen Waddle figure to present two major advantages and matchup opportunities for the Broncos to exploit.

Denver Broncos did not have either against Chiefs in 2025, and both can exploit matchups

At home during the 2025 season, the Broncos beat the Chiefs on a last-second field goal, winning 22-19. In that game, though, the team's leading rusher was RJ Harvey, who had just 30 yards on 11 carries. Jaleel McLaughlin had 19 yards on six carries.

During the Broncos' win over the Chiefs on Christmas, Harvey and McLaughlin combined for 21 carries and 83 yards, which was good for just under four yards per tote. In both matchups, the team's run game just wasn't a major threat, which forced the passing attack, without a go-to weapon, to take more of a role in the outcome of the game.

With Dobbins playing in Week 1, the Broncos figure to be guaranteed to have a more efficient running game. He was on pace for over 1,300 rushing yards across the 10 games he played in 2025. In Dobbins' 10 games last year, he averaged five yards per carry and had just two games averaging fewer than four yards per carry.

Dobbins also averaged 5.4 yards per carry or more in five of those 10 outings, also rushing for fewer than 61 yards just once. He was trending toward having the best season of his career, and with the team getting to deploy him against the Chiefs' defensive front, it could bring another wrinkle to the offense that simply wasn't present either time last year.

And that doesn't even include the possibility of fourth-round rookie Jonah Coleman also being a factor. No matter how you slice it, the Broncos' run game is absolutely in much better shape for this Chiefs' matchup in Week 1 than it was either matchup in 2025.

Waddle is also going to bring an explosive element that Denver did not have last year, and it's not a stretch to think that Waddle would be the best non-QB offensive player on the field on Monday night. One major area of the offense that the team's pass-catchers have struggled with, and even Bo Nix has struggled with,is producing against zone coverage.

In fact, during the 2026 season, Nix was considerably worse against zone coverage than man coverage. Well, Waddle's addition should help that, as his numbers against zone coverage in 2025 are excellent:

The Broncos swinging a trade for Waddle wasn't just about bringing in a fun, fast player. The team was missing someone who has the ability to excel against zone coverage, which is not something the offense has done well in the Nix era.

This could present a nearly impossible task for Steve Spagnuolo, the Chiefs' defensive coordinator, as the Broncos do have someone in Courtland Sutton who can excel against man coverage, but with Waddle being someone who can do both, but specifically giving Denver an advantage in zone looks, 'Spags' is going to have a rough time.

Whether it's the Broncos being able to deploy their fully-stocked running back room, or Waddle being the exact missing link for the passing offense, those two being on the field for Monday Night Football give the Broncos massive advantages that simply were not present for the team during 2025.

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