With the reigning Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs (10-6) having both punched their ticket to the 2024 NFL playoffs and the locked in the No. 3 seed in the AFC, it seems quite possible that Chiefs head coach Andy Reid will sit some of his star players for their season finale, against a 5-11 Los Angeles Chargers team that’s limping into the offseason with plenty of big absences of its own anyway.
Reid has yet to make an official determination.
Historically, Reid tends to sit his starters in these situations, with a playoff appearance already sewn up.
Matt Severance of SportsLine observes that Reid sat his starters the last time this happened, in 2020, against another non-playoff Chargers squad (although Justin Herbert was healthy then). Reid also enacted the practice in 2017, with the team’s playoff seeding also locked in at the time.
Superstar quarterback Patrick Mahomes, the face of the NFL, seemed amenable to getting in some Week 18 reps if need be.
“If he wants us to get out there and build off this momentum that we have, I’ll be ready to go,” Mahomes said. “And if he wants to give us some rest, then I’ll get that rest, prepare for whoever we’re going to play, and be ready to go in the playoffs.”
Salt notes that starting defensive tackle Chris Jones needs just half a regular season sack to earn a lucrative $1.25 million bonus, but even he is open to getting some rest ahead of what the Chiefs are hoping will be a long playoff run.
“If Coach Reid decides to rest us, I’ll more than likely take the rest. I can use a week off,” Jones acknowledged. “I feel a few nicks and bruises. And I’m quite sure our team could use it.”
Will Taylor Swift, aging Pro Bowl tight end Travis Kelce’s new girlfriend and the biggest singer on the planet, be in attendance to support the Chiefs even if Kelce doesn’t suit up? Color us dubious.
