The Kansas City Chiefs have wrapped up the No. 1 seed in the AFC playoff picture, making their Week 18 clash with the Denver Broncos meaningless for them. That has resulted in Patrick Mahomes and a bevy of other starters getting the game off, with the coaching staff opting to preserve their players’ health for the postseason.

While the Chiefs have also earned themselves a first-round bye in the playoffs, this isn’t exactly their first rodeo when it comes to the playoffs. There’s a question of whether a team resting their starters ahead of the playoffs is beneficial, but head coach Andy Reid and his team know what they are about to embark on.

With that in mind, resting Mahomes and several other starters makes a lot of sense. However, Kansas City still needs to field a team for this game, so in the event something goes wrong at quarterback with Week 18 starter Carson Wentz, the team promoted Chris Oladokun from the practice squad to the active roster for this game.

“We have activated Practice Squad players LB Blake Lynch and QB Chris Oladokun via Standard Elevation,” the Chiefs announced in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter.

Oladokun was selected in the seventh round of the 2022 NFL draft by the Pittsburgh Steelers, before latching on with the Chiefs practice squad later that year. He has spent the majority of the past three seasons with Kansas City, winning a pair of Super Bowl rings even though he has not taken a snap in the NFL yet.

Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes

© Charles LeClaire-Imagn Images

Unless something happens to Wentz, or the game becomes a blowout, chances are Oladokun won’t take the field in this game. Still, it will be a nice reward for him to be active for this game after grinding behind the scenes on Kansas City’s practice squad, and who knows, maybe he will end up on the field at some point in this one.

The Chiefs will wrap up their regular season campaign on Sunday, Jan. 5 at 4:25 p.m. EST before they turn their attention towards their upcoming postseason action.