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The Kansas City Chiefs were officially eliminated from playoff contention on Sunday in a 16-13 loss to the Los Angeles Chargers.
With Patrick Mahomes suffering an ACL injury in the closing stages, it was salt in the wounds for the defending AFC champs. But now a huge conversation starter has to take place this week inside the building.
There are three games left with nothing to play for.
So do the Chiefs pull their veterans, let them rest up for next year, and give the younger players on the roster some valuable snaps? Or is it business as usual and the starters play?
Head coach Andy Reid gave his answer on Monday.
“Listen, every game you go into, it can be Yahtzee, and you want to win," Reid said. "That's kind of what we do. So, you want to go in to play your best, and if the guys are available, they're going to play, and they know that and they want to do that.”
More: Chiefs' Andy Reid offers interesting Patrick Mahomes injury update
Is Reid right in playing starters?
We know that players want to play football, that's what they love and get paid to do, so you will be hard-pressed to find anyone who is fine with sitting out the remaining three games of the year.
But what I think we might see is instead of the starters getting say 55 snaps a game, that might drop to around 40 or so, and the younger players on the roster will get their chances throughout the game.
It is an interesting conversation starter because the Chiefs won't want to lose any other star players for 2026, like Mahomes, but they also want to play, so there is a balancing act here that the Chiefs must perform.
But according to Reid, if the starters are healthy, they'll play in the remaining three games.
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