ENGLEWOOD, Colo. — Following a pair of productive joint practices in consecutive weeks, the Broncos won't play many of their starters in Saturday's preseason matchup with the Cardinals.

Head Coach Sean Payton said Thursday that neither he nor Cardinals head coach Jonathan Gannon will "play the ones" in this weekend's game.

"There will be a few," Payton said. "There's five or six players that are on an eight-play pitch count that we consider ones but maybe [they've had a] lack of reps or for whatever reason.

"We're going to feature really two phases. … Basically, there's going to be a group in the first half and a group in the second half."

Payton specifically mentioned the Broncos' quarterback, offensive line, defensive line, cornerback group and receiving group as positions where the starters would not play.

While Denver's starters won't see game action against Arizona, the group is expected to play in New Orleans in the preseason finale. Payton said the first-team units would play eight to 10 snaps against the Saints.

Without the starters in the lineup, Payton said he'll be watching for players making progress from previous mistakes.

"Are those getting cleaned up?" Payton said. "Or is it Groundhog Day all over again for some players? And if that's the case, then we have a problem. So, cleaning up some of the prior mistakes, the operation. And then just watching these guys perform at home. It'll be nice — we have one home preseason game for our fans. I think, look, you're going to see a similar strategy with Jonathan and his team. Those are invaluable snaps. … Most importantly is [having] more information, more data, that can help us to the right decisions."