What could the Chiefs lineup look like against the Broncos?

It's harder than it looks to come up with a 48-man game-day roster, let alone projecting who will eat most of the snaps. Some are obvious to rest, but some key players will have to touch grass Sunday.

We have known for over a week now that the Kansas City Chiefs would have the AFC’s one seed, which allowed them to technically have the ability to rest key players for 24 to 25 straight days until a divisional round matchup in mid-January at Arrowhead. There is still one week left in the regular season as they gear up for a road trip to Denver where the Broncos will be fighting for their playoff lives.

It is a win, and you are in for Denver, but for the Chiefs, it will be a game where starters can rest, and the coaching staff can see what they have in some of the youngsters. It had me very curious as to what type of lineup the Chiefs can actually fill out, and what I found out is that it is much harder than you think to just rest the starters. Every week 48 players dress out, with the roster being 53. You can call up two players from the practice squad each week, up to three times per player throughout the entirety of the season, bringing a game-day roster up to 55.

With two additions being a given this week, that leaves seven players Kansas City can completely shut down. In week 18 last year when faced with similar circumstances, 40 Chiefs logged snaps. Guys like Creed Humphrey, Trey Smith, Jawaan Taylor, Mecole Hardman, Tershawn Wharton, Chris Jones and Leo Chenal all logged legitimate snaps. Charles Omenihu, Drue Tranquill, Mike Edwards and other key contributors to Super Bowl 58 logged special teams snaps as well. So, while you may not want anybody that matters to play, the math simply is not that simple. All in all, 40 of the 48 actives played, leaving 15 players unused.

Let’s dive into what this Sunday could look like for the Chiefs, lineup-wise, starting with the seven most probably inactive.

The seven inactive

• QB: Patrick Mahomes

• RB: Isiah Pacheco

• WR: DeAndre Hopkins

• TE: Travis Kelce

• RT: Jawaan Taylor

• DT: Chris Jones

• SS: Justin Reid

The thought process on the seven here was the most important players, the injured players and the most veteran players. Mahomes, Kelce and Jones are the most obvious here and the team will take no risk of them getting injured. Pacheco (Rib) and Taylor (Knee) are all but locks, given their current injury designations. Jones is also suffering from a calf injury. Reid is just an educated guess, as a seven-year veteran and key player on the backend. I could see Trent McDuffie or Joe Thuney taking on the inactive designation as well. Hopkins is the other question mark here, as he has a chance at earning a $500,000 bonus if he catches another touchdown, but I would guess he and the team would agree that it is not worth the risk as he gears up for the first real playoff run of his career.

While 40 of the 48 players played last year, only 30 of the 40 played on offense or defense. Next, let’s decipher who is likely to see virtually zero snaps on offense or defense because they are too important to a strong playoff run.

Players who should get zero snaps

• RB: Kareem Hunt

• OL: Joe Thuney

• C: Creed Humphrey

• RG: Trey Smith

• Edge: George Karlaftis

• Edge: Mike Danna

• LB: Nick Bolton

• CB: Trent McDuffie

Hunt is a 29-year-old running back who has proven he is too key to the Chiefs' success in the run game, especially in short-yardage situations. Resting him for 24 to 25 days has to feel great to his body. Thuney has nothing to prove, and he very well could be one of the inactive, honestly. Humphrey and Smith are still young players, but they have backups on the roster that are capable of eating snaps, contrary to last season. They should not see the field unless there is an injury.

Karlaftis and Danna are the starting edge rushers and there are a couple of backups I am sure defensive coordinator Stever Spagnuolo would love to see in there to check up on the development. Bolton is a captain of the defense and needs to be ready to go on a playoff run after a season full of bumps and bruises. McDuffie is possibly the best cornerback in football and Kansas City cannot afford to lose him in a meaningless week.