Payton Promises to 'Find Touches' for Rookie RB Jaleel McLaughlin
Twenty-two rushing attempts took place in the Denver Broncos' season-opening loss to the Las Vegas Raiders. Javonte Williams handled a team-high 13 carries. Samaje Perine was right behind with eight. Even quarterback Russell Wilson ran the rock once.
Conspicuously absent from the box score, however, was undrafted rookie running back Jaleel McLaughlin. And it sounds as if that will never happen again — or, at least, not in Week 2.
“I think it’s one of the things we talked about when the game ended," Broncos coach Sean Payton said Wednesday. "You always have that closure. We will find those touches for him. I think that will be important.”
The NCAA's all-time leading rusher out of Youngstown State, McLaughlin finished the preseason as Denver's top RB, averaging 5.3 yards across 21 carries. He also scored the most total touchdowns (4) of any NFL player over the three-game exhibition period, deservedly punching his ticket onto the Broncos' 53-man roster.
McLaughlin offers what Williams and Perine don't: trailblazing speed. Despite this, he saw just five offensive snaps against the Raiders, tallying one catch for negative-seven yards amid the 17-16 defeat in which Denver controlled the ball for more than 32 minutes — and had few explosive plays to show for it.
Payton conceded "there were a number of things" that needed to be "cleaned up" following Week 1.
Presumably, McLaughlin's rushing goose-egg was chief among them.
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