According to NFL Network’s lead league insider Ian Rapoport, the Denver Broncos have re-signed running back Jaleel McLaughlin to a one-year deal.
The Broncos have been re-signing pretty much all of their free agents, so it made sense that running back Jaleel McLaughlin would get a deal sooner
rather than later. We don’t have the terms of the deal as of yet, but I am expecting it to be another low-money deal as they did with Lucas Krull, Lil’Jordan, and others in recent days.
Jaleel McLaughlin is a former undrafted free agent running back who made the Broncos’ 53-man roster his rookie year and gave the offense some juice out of the backfield. He has since been a valuable depth player for the Broncos and will return to the team to once again provide depth behind veteran JK Dobbins and second-year back RJ Harvey.
Last season was McLaughlin’s first year where he took a backseat in the Broncos running game. He was a healthy scratch most weeks and did not end up playing until starter JK Dobbins went down with a season-ending injury. Before that, Tyler Badie was active and serving as the Broncos’ third-down/pass blocking back. Now, with all of those backs returning to the team, I would anticipate the pecking order to be the same.
On top of that, the Broncos are expected to select a running back at some point during the 2026 NFL Draft. As we know, JK Dobbins has injury concerns, and the Broncos’ run game struggled when he went down. So, adding another reliable back to the mix would make sense, and it could happen rather early in the draft.
With McLaughlin back, the Broncos have now re-signed just about all of their free agents. John Franklin-Myers and PJ Locke are the only two players to leave via free agency, and veterans Marcedes Lewis, Michael Burton, and Sam Mustipher are the only three Broncos free agents remaining. Lewis and Burton could be retiring, and Mustipher was a late-season add due to the Broncos suffering multiple injuries at the center position. So, realistically, they probably won’t be re-signed by the Broncos.
