Why Broncos made what George Paton called the ‘toughest’ cut to waive Jaleel McLaughlin

Every cut by the Broncos and the 31 other NFL teams comes with emotional pain. If you’ve seen Hard Knocks over the many years, you know the anguish that players can feel in that moment when they’re told they’re no longer needed — or, if kept around, their services are only desired in a reserve, practice-squad capacity.

But some have more punch than others.

And on Sunday, the Broncos were feeling the pain of waiving running back Jaleel McLaughlin, a player whose work ethic set a standard around the team’s headquarters, and who played a role in helping the club climb out of a several-year rut to becoming a postseason participant in each of the last two seasons.

Broncos coach Sean Payton would often point to a vignette about McLaughlin — his pre-dawn arrivals at the facility each day, how he played so well in the 2023 preseason that he forced the team to alter its plan to sneak him through to the practice squad and was forced to keep him on the 53-player roster. McLaughlin came a long way from having the name on his jersey misspelled in his first preseason game.

 

View on Threads

 

And waiving McLaughlin was what Broncos general manager George Paton described as “the toughest” of this year’s cut to 53 players.

“Yeah, I mean that was really tough,” Paton said. “… Man, he’s something else; he was really important to this team. …

“It was a really hard decision.”

ROSTER NEEDS, FUMBLES WORKED AGAINST McLAUGHLIN STAYING ON THE BRONCOS’ 53-PLAYER ROSTER

When it came down to recent years, McLaughlin was objectively the more productive back when compared with Badie.

McLaughlin has 283 career touches and 1,356 yards from scrimmage. He’s averaged 4.8 yards per carry on 226 career rushing attempts. Badie has 43 career touches and 272 yards; 43 of them came on one gallop in 2024 at Tampa Bay, which is the difference in ensuring that his career average per rushing attempt is 7.1 yards — as opposed to the 3.5-yard average on his other 19 rushes.

But roster construction mattered. McLaughlin never established a role on special teams like Badie did, earning his way to being a punt protector. And Badie remained the superior back at picking up blitzes in pass protection, allowing him to stake a claim to the third-down role last year — although that may be downsized with the arrival of Jonah Coleman and the growth of RJ Harvey in his second NFL season.

“Obviously special teams are involved, third down a bit, there’s a lot involved,” Paton said.

“Really all three of those runners,” Paton said, referring to Badie, McLaughlin and the also-waived Cody Schrader, “they’re all really good runners. They’re all different.

Fumbles mattered, too. He had one fumble during the preseason, and another in the AFC Divisional Playoff win over Buffalo — although that was erased by a penalty. Nevertheless, for a player who’d displayed secure hands through most of his years with the Broncos, that’s a notable recent trend — and when he had no margin for error in a roster crunch created by the addition of three running backs over the last 16 months, those bobbles helped evaporate that wiggle room.

And that matters, too. When the Broncos added McLaughlin in 2023, their roster was in a far different place than it sits now. With Coleman, Harvey and the return of J.K. Dobbins, it’s a deeper room on a far more stacked roster that saw three draft picks fail to stick on the 53.

“[It] was probably the last decision we made, is this fourth runner,” Paton said.

And ultimately, McLaughlin won’t be that for the Broncos.

Related

Broncos kept Caleb Lohner — but he’ll need some time to be healthyReport: Broncos cut a fifth-round tight end after tough camp, but long TDReport: Broncos carrying three QBs on 53-man roster, Ehlinger makes itBroncos edge rusher Cooper headed for commissioner’s exempt listThe Broncos don’t need a 1,000-yard rusher to have a great RB roomDenver Broncos 2026 cutdown tracker