Jaleel McLaughlin finds new NFL home

A fan-favorite in Broncos Country, Jaleel McLaughlin has found a new NFL home just days after being cut by Denver.

The undrafted running back turned productive pro will continue his career in Cleveland, where he has signed a practice squad deal with the Browns, on Tuesday.

McLaughlin has 283 career touches and 1,356 yards from scrimmage. He’s averaged 4.8 yards per carry on 226 career rushing attempts. But the Broncos went with Tyler Badie as their fourth-string back, who has 43 career touches and 272 yards. The reason wasn’t even running — 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.

That whole pack of players is behind JK Dobbins, who was one of the most effective rushers in the league last year before he broke his foot. But like Dobbins and the rest, none of those players were in Denver when McLaughlin first got a chance.

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

“It was a really hard decision.”

Now he’s the de facto fourth back in Ohio, behind Quinshon Judkins, Dylan Sampson and Raheim Sanders. He re-joins former Broncos teammate Jerry Jeudy, hoping to run a strong offense despite the worst quarterback situation in the NFL.

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