For Broncos and Chiefs, Week 1 brings plenty of unknowns

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Week 1 for the Denver Broncos and Kansas City Chiefs brings plenty of unknowns.

• How will Patrick Mahomes look in his first game back from last year’s knee injury?
• Will Kansas City’s protection hold up — particularly with undrafted rookie Khalil Benson working on the blind side in place of the injured Josh Simmons — and particularly with Nik Bonitto looming on the opposite side of the line of scrimmage?
• How will Jonah Elliss fare starting in place of Jonathon Cooper, who is currently on the Commissioner’s exempt list?
• Will Kansas City’s ground game be more effective with Kenneth Walker III and Emmett Johnson leading their running-back room?And how much will the Chiefs try and use that to take pressure off their protection scheme?
• What will Jaylen Waddle’s role be in his first regular-season game with the Broncos?
• And just how aggressive will Davis Webb be in his maiden regular-season voyage as the Broncos’ primary play caller?

And then looming over all of this are the variances that we see in Week 1 — when teams are rarely what they expect to be. Certainly that has been the case for the Broncos in the Sean Payton era; they’ve lost two of three Week 1 games under his stewardship and they’re 2-7 overall in Weeks 1-3, compared with 30-12 in all other weeks of the regular season.

Put in the context of a 17-game campaign, that translates to being a 4-13 side in the season’s first three games and a 12-5 team the rest of the way. In what Payton calls “the race to get better,” his Broncos have been a bit labored breaking from the gallop … but they’ve reached full gallop soon enough to reverse the effects of a slow start. Even in 2023, they shook off 0-3 and 1-5 records to eventually reach December above .500 before losing three of their final four games.

“I think it is a balance, right? You don’t want Week 1 to be your finished product, but you also need it to be sharp enough to win,” right tackle Mike McGlinchey said.

“And and so that’s what training camp is for. It’s what all the preseason games are for and all the reps that we’ve taken over the last month and a half. And I it’s just one of those things that you just keep plugging at it, right?

“And that’s what we’re going to try and — and and starting fast is something that we’ve been preaching all offseason and and it’s got to we got to make sure it happens.”

BRONCOS LOOKING TO START FAST WITHOUT JONATHON COOPER

Only Nik Bonitto has more sacks over the last two Broncos seasons that Cooper, who remains on the exempt list. That puts Jonah Elliss into the starting lineup, and throughout the week, the locker room bubbled over with confidence in the third-year edge rusher’s ability to handle the role.

“I feel like he’s already progressed so much since he’s gotten into the league,” Bonitto said.

“I just feel like with now that he’s having more opportunity, he’s gaining more confidence and he’s able to trust himself and he’s playing just at a more confident level this year and that’s why he’s been having a great camp and been great in the (preseason) games.

“So, I have no doubts about what he’s gonna do on Monday.”

Added Broncos defensive end Zach Allen: “He’s an ultimate professional … I mean, obviously, his family is football royalty, so, he knows how to do it and yeah, man, a lot of it’s been awesome to just kind of see his process and his work.

“… He’s done a [heck] of a job and we’re really excited to see him in in this opportunity.”

As far back as March 2025, general manager George Paton praised the progress of Elliss, then coming off his rookie season but also recovering from a fractured scapula suffered in the January 2025 playoff loss at Buffalo.

Now, Elliss gets his turn in the spotlight. And with the Chiefs potentially using extra help for left tackle Khalil Benson in his first NFL start with Bonitto opposite him, Elliss could face plenty of one-on-one snaps — and a chance to have an impactful start to the season.

For more to look ahead to Monday night’s game, watch the embedded video.

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