For the Denver Broncos, the hard part is complete. With a 34-26 win over the Green Bay Packers on Sunday afternoon, they became the first AFC team to officially claim their spot in the 2025 playoffs. They still haven’t quite secured the No. 1 seed and the lone first-round bye, though they’re well on their way to doing that, but the remainder of the regular season carries a little bit less pressure. As such, they can afford to be careful with core pieces, including rookie running back RJ Harvey, who left late in the fourth quarter with a rib injury.
There has been no indication that the injury is serious or would force Harvey to miss time, but it’s noteworthy that the Broncos claimed Cody Schrader off of waivers. If Harvey’s injury is serious or Denver opts to proceed with an abundance of caution, the Broncos are rather thin at running back, with the injury-prone J.K. Dobbins currently on Injured Reserve with a Lisfranc injury and not likely to return until the Super Bowl, if the team makes it that far. If Harvey sits in Week 16 against the Jacksonville Jaguars, the primary running back is likely to be Jaleel McLaughlin, who started five games last season. Schrader won’t be a major factor, as he has just one career carry for three yards and one reception for six yards and has already been waived or released four times this season — including twice by the Jaguars.
McLaughlin should be fine in a larger role. It’s hard to glean much from the 19 carries that he’s turned into 69 yards and a score this season, but the 189 carries and 906 rushing yards he accumulated in the 2023 and 2024 seasons represent roughly the workload and efficiency of an average feature back in one season. His 52.4% rushing success rate across that span would actually rank 20th league-wide this season, ahead of players such as Derrick Henry, De’Von Achane, David Montgomery, Saquon Barkley, and, most importantly, Harvey. His negative-0.36 yards over expectation per attempt in 2024 wasn’t great, but it was better than Harvey’s negative-0.6 mark so far this season. Like Harvey, McLaughlin is an undersized back who relies on his vision, so he should be a fine replacement on the ground, but he’s less effective in the passing game. He doesn’t have the scoring track record that Harvey does, but that’s at least in part a matter of opportunity, as he averaged more yards per attempt inside the red zone in 2024 than Harvey has in 2025.
The Jaguars’ strong rushing defense keeps McLaughlin from being a true must-start if Harvey misses time. This season, Jacksonville has allowed the fourth-fewest fantasy points to running backs, conceding the fewest rushing yards and fifth-fewest rushing scores. Instead, the Jaguars have been more exploitable by running backs through the air, which isn’t McLaughlin’s strength. Still, he’s definitely worthy of FLEX consideration if Sean Payton opts to go with a run-heavy scheme against an elite Jacksonville’s secondary, which has limited opposing quarterbacks to the sixth-lowest passer rating and the fourth-fewest adjusted yards per attempt. Denver also operates a more run-heavy scheme at home, where weather and altitude is a major factor.
