I've seen some discussion or questions about Jaleel McLaughlin (pictured). The former Bronco was signed by Cleveland when they lost Dylan Sampson, and now they've also lost Raheim Sanders and possibly Quinshon Judkins. Will McLaughlin be a Week 6 starter?
Some apparently believe so. Last night I dutifully put a claim in for Dameon Pierce, who may be the Eagles starter this week. To my surprise, I got him, because players taken ahead of him included McLaughlin and Buffalo's Ray Davis.
McLaughlin spent the first three years of his career with Denver, a team I tend to pay attention to. Generally, he was behind Javonte Williams, Audric Estime (ironically enough), J.K. Dobbins and RJ Harvey, among others. He's a smaller back (5-7, 187) and used sparingly all along. He was signed to be a No. 3 and occasional passing downs guy in Cleveland. The Browns have lost Sanders and perhaps Judkins (it's been called a mild ankle sprain, so that's not certain; we'll know more in the Friday update), so McLaughlin is going to be playing some. But I doubt he'll have a leading role.
The past two years in Denver, McLaughlin had at least 5 carries in a game 16 times. Those logs are below, from pro-football-reference.com. In about half of them he was at 3.7 per carry or worse, and most notably he offered very little after the catch. His 25 receptions went for a total of 77 yards (3.1 per reception). He's small and perhaps quick, but explosive, he is not.
| MCLAUGHLIN WITH 5-PLUS CARRIES, 2024-2025 | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Opp | Att | RuYd | Avg | No | ReYd | Avg | TD |
| 2024 | K.C. | 16 | 39 | 2.4 | 2 | 9 | 4.5 | 0 |
| 2024 | Cle. | 14 | 84 | 6.0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 2024 | at Sea. | 10 | 27 | 2.7 | 5 | 1 | 0.2 | 0 |
| 2024 | at Cin. | 10 | 69 | 6.9 | 2 | 7 | 3.5 | 0 |
| 2024 | at NYJ | 9 | 46 | 5.1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 2024 | Car. | 8 | 47 | 5.9 | 1 | 9 | 9 | 1 |
| 2024 | at L.V. | 7 | 44 | 6.3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| 2024 | Ind. | 7 | 21 | 3.0 | 3 | 13 | 4.3 | 0 |
| 2025 | at K.C. | 7 | 40 | 5.7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| 2024 | L.V. | 6 | 22 | 3.7 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 1 |
| 2025 | K.C. | 6 | 19 | 3.2 | 1 | -5 | -5 | 1 |
| 2025 | at Was. | 6 | 24 | 4.0 | 1 | 6 | 6 | 0 |
| 2025 | LAC | 6 | 41 | 6.8 | 1 | 17 | 17 | 0 |
| 2024 | at T.B. | 5 | 7 | 1.4 | 1 | 7 | 7 | 1 |
| 2024 | at Bal. | 5 | 10 | 2.0 | 3 | 10 | 3.3 | 0 |
| 2025 | Jac. | 5 | 37 | 7.4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Totals | 127 | 577 | 4.5 | 25 | 77 | 3.1 | 4 | |
The Browns signed Audric Estime, who bounced around the past few years, most recently with New Orleans. If Judkins sits, I think Estime and McLaughlin will play in some sort of ugly tandem against the Ravens. I would not want to put either in a fantasy lineup, though barring some sort of announcement from the team as to who will start, I think Estime will get more carries and be a better bet to maybe fall into the end zone at some point. If Judkins is ruled out by Friday, Estime will be a little higher in the update.
Dameon Pierce put up a really ugly stat line for the Eagles last week: 11 carries, 14 yards. Terrible, yes. But that was against Jacksonville, with the league's best run defense. This week the Eagles host Carolina. If Saquon Barkley (hamstring) is out again, Pierce will start, facing a much worse run defense (31st). I'd rather gamble on him this week than anything Cleveland can scrap together.
--Andy Richardson
