Jaleel

McLaughlin

McLaughlin was the only Denver running back besides RJ Harvey (seven rushes, 50 yards) to see a carry in a massively pass-heavy script for the Broncos. With 17 rushes over his past four games, McLaughlin is clearly the team’s RB2 and would likely function as Denver’s lead back if Harvey were to get dinged up.

RJ Harvey is dealing with a rib injury but practiced in full on Wednesday and should still be locked into the lead back role in Denver. This is something that Payton says a lot after games — this idea that he needs to get backup backs or wideouts (like Marvin Mims) more involved. We wouldn’t necessarily read into it so far as to say that Harvey is going to split carries or anything, but it is at least possible that McLaughlin is more involved than the seven touches he’s seen over the past two games.

He added that he was impressed with McLaughlin’s work against the Chiefs in Week 11, when he rushed for 6/19/1. RJ Harvey-reliant managers won’t want to hear this, but it’s possible that he peaks at 65-75 percent of the usage in Week 13’s game against the Commanders. McLaughlin seems destined to be a thorn in his side while not collecting enough usage on his own to be more than a desperation FLEX play.

He “added” a minus-5 yard catch on his only target. McLaughlin and Tyler Badie split 16 snaps evenly as foils to RJ Harvey, and McLaughlin lived up to the idea by stealing two red zone touches from Harvey and the game’s only touchdown. McLaughlin isn’t a must-hold through Denver’s Week 12 bye, but he’s certainly got a fantasy pulse again following JK Dobbins’ injury.

Rapoport ambiguously states that Dobbins “is believed to be out for the foreseeable future” as he works through his options regarding his injured foot. Dobbins was injured while being hip-drop tackled by a Raiders defender in Week 10. Broncos rookie RB RJ Harvey steps into lead back duties with Dobbins sidelined, while receiving specialist RB Tyler Badie chips in behind him. Fellow backup RB Jaleel McLaughlin will likely be active on game day.

Mims (concussion) and Surtain (pectoral) both missed the Broncos’ Week 9 game against the Texans as well. The Broncos’ top-tier defense should be okay in this one, but it is an unfortunate missed opportunity for Mims’ fantasy managers. The speedy wide receiver would have had decent odds of producing an explosive gain or two against the Raiders.

All healthy scratches here. Tyler Badie has control of the Annoying Fantasy Thorn role as the third back in Sean Payton’s offense.

The Broncos made Tyler Badie inactive for this game, but it didn’t make much of a difference for Harvey’s role. Jaleel McLaughlin pitched in for six snaps of work on passing downs and Harvey was again relegated to distant No. 2 duties. He did, however, tie his season-high in receptions. Harvey isn’t closing the gap on J.K. Dobbins and doesn’t have a weekly floor of designed touches. He is barely on the fantasy radar as FLEX play heading into Week 7 against the Giants.

It’s a quiet list for a Broncos team that escaped the season’s first month as one of the league’s healthier teams. Although he’s still only 25, it bodes poorly for McLaughlin’s NFL future that he has been passed by Tyler Badie on the Broncos’ depth chart.

McLaughlin has been a healthy scratch throughout the season while Krull continues to deal with a toe injury sustained in preseason. The Broncos are looking to bounce back from consecutive close losses after dropping Week 2 by a point to the Colts and Week 3 by three points to the Chargers.