Will Jaleel McLaughlin still have a role among Broncos RBs?

Jaleel McLaughlin was the most efficient of the three Denver Broncos running backs who had at least 20 carries last season.

That doesn’t necessarily mean he will be in the mix to be the team’s No. 1 running back this season. Certainly Sean Payton’s recent comments about the need for a “joker” type of running back have already set what appears to be a clear priority list for the next three months.

But McLaughlin, who has always shown a penchant for simply trying to out-work anyone in the sport by virtue of pre-dawn arrivals and post-sunset departures from Broncos Park Powered By Common Spirit, is the type of player who will accept whatever his role is — but always be in the process of putting in the time to try and bring more.

“I’m just going to keep working,” he said a day after the Broncos’ season ended with a postseason loss to the Buffalo Bills. “I’m going to keep my head down, keep working. I’m going to be better next year. I’m going to be way better next year.

“That’s just how I’m feeling.”

Thirteen months ago, Payton mentioned how the “vision” for McLaughlin was continuing to grow based on his work. That happened again in 2024, as a combination of McLaughlin’s work plus the struggles of Javonte Williams put McLaughlin in line for opportunities as an every-down contributor.

Prior to missing the Week 16 game against the Los Angeles Chargers due to a quadriceps injury, McLaughlin was emerging as the toastiest runner in the “hot hand” arrangement that defined most of November and December on the ground.

The other two members of the three-man rotation were Williams and rookie Audric Estimé. Along with McLaughlin, they were the only Broncos running backs to have at least 15 carries this season.

McLaughlin was the most efficient of the bunch, evidenced by these numbers:

Among 70 running backs with at least 50 attempts last season, McLaughlin had the highest rankings of the three in yardage per attempt, breaking tackles and yardage before contact (on a per-carry basis).

McLaughlin finished 27th among those 70 backs at broken-tackle rate, forcing one missed tackle every 14.1 attempts. In the same metric, Estimé ranked 51st, while Javonte Williams was 61st.

In yardage before contact — primarily set up by the NFL’s top offensive line in run-block win rate — McLaughin averaged 2.7 yards per attempt, placing him 11th among those 70 runners. Williams was 49th and Estimé 56th.

Where McLaughlin came up short — even though he had a solid broken-tackle rate — was in yardage after contact, where he ranked 52nd, averaging 1.72 yards per attempt after contact. Estimé placed 18th and Williams 45th.

McLaughlin knows this must be a priority in the coming months.

“Yeah, definitely I think that being able to make a safety miss and take a 12-yard (gain) to a 60 is definitely something I want to work on in the offseason,” he said, “so that I could help this team with more explosive plays and I’ll get better at that for sure.”

To be certain, McLaughlin is the type of player who will put in extra time to improve a weak point. Last year, that led him to devote much of his offseason to working on pass protection, both in improving technique and identifying blitzes.

That diligence put him in position to be in the every-down conversation.

“Yeah, that was one of my goals, to be 100 percent in pass protection. I can say that I was,” he said. “So, I’ll just keep working and keep getting better at it and stuff like that. So, I’m just gonna keep working.”

That’s what McLaughlin does best: work. That work has borne fruit in playing two seasons after being undrafted — with some electric on-field moments along the way.

And that work will be why it would be unwise to dismiss the potential for McLaughlin to keep doing that, even if Payton opts to remake the running-back room.

 

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