Seth McLaughlin

Seth McLaughlin (born August 27, 2001) is an American professional football center. He played college football for the Alabama Crimson Tide and Ohio State Buckeyes. McLaughlin signed with the Cincinnati Bengals as an undrafted free agent following the 2025 NFL Draft before signing with the Lions in January 2026.

Early life McLaughlin was born in Alcoa, Tennessee and moved with his family to Buford, Georgia the summer before his freshman year of high school. He attended Buford High School, where he played center & left tackle on a Wolves offense that scored 467 points and rushed for 3,400 yards during his senior season in 2019. Buford won the Class 5A Georgia state championship that year, and McLaughlin was named a PrepStar All-Southeast Region honoree. Rated a three-star recruit by 247Sports and Rivals and a four-star by ESPN—which ranked him the No. 4 center nationally—McLaughlin signed with Alabama on December 18, 2019. The following week, he made his first career start in the 2021 SEC Championship Game against top-ranked Georgia, whose defense entered the game ranked No. 1 nationally in both scoring (6.9 points per game) and total yards allowed; Alabama won 41–24. McLaughlin retained the starting center role through the rest of the postseason, starting in Alabama's Cotton Bowl College Football Playoff semifinal win over Cincinnati and in the 2022 College Football Playoff National Championship, a 33–18 loss to Georgia.

In 2022, McLaughlin played in 11 games while making eight starts and logged 913 snaps, allowing one sack and 14 pressures per Pro Football Focus while helping Alabama's offense rank fourth nationally at 5.55 yards per carry. The resulting bad snap and a subsequent penalty helped create a fourth-and-31 situation from the Auburn 31-yard line, from which quarterback Jalen Milroe completed a 31-yard touchdown pass to Isaiah Bond in the back corner of the end zone with 32 seconds left, on a play Bond later named "Grave Digger". The score gave Alabama a 27–24 win and kept the Crimson Tide's College Football Playoff hopes alive. Snap issues continued in the 2024 Rose Bowl, a College Football Playoff semifinal in which McLaughlin had three errant snaps, including a low snap on the final play of the game, a fourth-and-goal in overtime. On the play, Milroe was stopped short of the end zone on a designed run, with analysts also noting that Michigan's defensive line, including a key block from edge rusher Josaiah Stewart on right tackle JC Latham, collapsed the pocket before Milroe could execute the run. Saban later attributed the broader snap issues to a miscommunication, saying that while Michigan was not actually clapping, McLaughlin had been reacting to ambient noise he mistook for Milroe's clap cadence. Following the loss, McLaughlin entered the NCAA transfer portal.

In McLaughlin's career with the Crimson Tide, he appeared in 35 games with 24 being starts.

Ohio State (2024) McLaughlin entered the NCAA transfer portal on January 4, 2024, and announced his transfer to Ohio State three days later. He started the first 10 games of the 2024 season at center and was a central figure on a Buckeyes offensive line that finished fourth nationally in tackles for loss allowed (42) and 16th in sacks allowed (13). According to Pro Football Focus, McLaughlin did not allow a sack and surrendered just seven pressures in his ten games, and graded as a Buckeyes "champion" in all ten.

On November 19, 2024, McLaughlin ruptured his Achilles tendon in practice, ending his playing season. Despite the injury, he was named a semifinalist for the Outland Trophy as the only center among the seven semifinalists, a consensus first-team All-American, and first-team All-Big Ten on the conference head coaches' ballot.

Cincinnati Bengals On May 9, 2025, Seth signed with the Cincinnati Bengals as an undrafted free agent. He was the best available player not to be drafted in 2025 according to ESPN (ranked as the 135th best player and 2nd best center). On July 30, McLaughlin passed a physical and was cleared to practice. He had been on the Active/Non-Football Injury list since July 19 while recovering from the ruptured Achilles he suffered in November 2024 at Ohio State. McLaughlin was waived on August 26 as part of final roster cuts and re-signed to the practice squad the next day.

Detroit Lions On January 6, 2026, McLaughlin signed a reserve/future contract with the Detroit Lions. He was waived on September 2.