The Broncos have it within their power to keep Jaleel McLaughlin, but will they do it?
PLAYER: Jaleel McLaughlin
POSITION: Running back
AGE: 25
CURRENT CONTRACT: Three years, $2.71 million
EXPERIENCE: Three
KEY STATS:
5.1 yards per carry in 2025, leading all Broncos running backs.
4.8 yards per rushing attempt in his career, with at least 4.4 yards per rush in each of his three seasons.
Has just one fumble in 297 total touches, including postseason.
Notched a career-best success rate of 59.5 percent in 2025.
WHY THE BRONCOS COULD BRING HIM BACK
Running backs such as Javonte Williams, Samaje Perine, Blake Watson and Audric Estimé have come and gone since Sean Payton’s arrival as Broncos head coach, but McLaughlin has been the constant, surprisingly making the 53-player roster as a rookie and then sticking every years since then.
While the Broncos would like McLaughlin to be able to make more defenders miss and break more tackles, his career broken-tackle rate of one every 16.1 attempts (per SportRadar) is better than that of RJ Harvey as a rookie (one every 20.7 attempts) and J.K. Dobbins last year (one every 17.1 attempts).
Tyler Badie’s prominence as a pass-protector ensured that the Mizzou product got a jersey early last season at McLaughlin’s expense, but after Dobbins’ Lisfranc injury, there was room for both Nos. 28 and 38 to get jerseys on game days. Once McLaughlin was turned loose, he was back to his usual self; his success rate in the 2025 season of 59.5 percent was a career high, and his first-down rate of one every 4.6 carries was in line with his 2023 and 2024 figures (one every 4.8 and one every 4.5, respectively).
In other words, you know what you’ll get from McLaughlin. He’s consistent, he hits the crease in a flash and he rarely fumbles. He’s missed just one game due to injury — and that was on a short week, heading into a Thursday night. He isn’t an RB1, but there’s room for a runner who can push toward 5.0 yards per carry in any backfield.
WHY THE BRONCOS WOULD LET HIM WALK
Another team could deliver an unexpected offer, but that seems unlikely.
THE OUTLOOK:
McLaughlin has been productive on a per-carry basis, but the fact that he hasn’t advanced to a level of every-down use through three years puts a ceiling on his market value and likely the interest he would receive from other teams. If he were an unrestricted free agent, the conversation would be different; as a restricted free agent where the Broncos can retain the right of first refusal, there’s little reason to expect he won’t return. And given that the RFA tender isn’t guaranteed, there’s no reason for the Broncos to not issue it to him.
