With the Rams guaranteed either the third or fourth seed in the NFC, they have very little to play for. In fact, losing on Sunday would increase their chances of facing the Eagles in the second round, which seems like a more favorable matchup than visiting the Vikings in Minnesota.

As a result, coach Sean McVay is opting to rest his starters to keep them healthy for their upcoming postseason run. Among the players who won’t see the field are Aaron Donald, Todd Gurley and Jared Goff, along with Andrew Whitworth and John Sullivan.

Players across the NFL have incentives and bonuses built into their contracts for hitting milestones like 1,000 yards or a certain number of touchdowns, so every game counts. That’s why the Rams are going to honor players who come up just shy of reaching those thresholds and still pay out their bonuses.

“That’s one of the things . . . where you figure out how to make good on some of those things if they might be a couple yards away or if they have something being 16 games active then that’s a coach’s decision,” McVay said during his press conference Wednesday.

“Certainly, you want to make good on those things where you don’t want them to not reach their incentives because of a coach’s decision to hold you and get you healthy for the playoffs. We definitely are mindful and aware of those guys that were affected and want to make sure that we take care of that and handle that in a first-class way and that’s exactly what we’ll do.”

It’s unclear which players have incentives in their contracts that won’t be reached because they’ll be inactive in Week 17, but Donald, Goff and Gurley could all be in that group.

Rodger Saffold is one guy who stands to earn a bonus on Sunday, but he’s unlikely to play after an oblique injury in Week 16. He earns $31,250 each time he’s active on game day, so the Rams should wind up paying him that bonus even if he’s rested on Sunday.