Terry McLaurin went through hell with the Washington Commanders during the first few years of his career. They were still owned by Dan Snyder, still named the Redskins, and — perhaps worst of all for a receiver of his talents — he was catching passes from one of the motley-est crews of QBs a wideout has dealt with since DeAndre Hopkins in Houston.
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Alex Smith, Kyle Allen, Dwayne Haskins, Colt McCoy, and Case Keenum were just a few of the mediocre names he had to play with. And that was just in his first two seasons. And yet, he is one of just four players in the NFL with five 1,000-yard campaigns in the last five years.
His most recent was surely his favorite, as he was finally catching passes from a quality QB in rookie Jayden Daniels. Surely, both sides want that partnership to continue.
But it will need to continue with both sides getting what they deserve. Right now, Terry McLaurin is not. The deal he’s on now pays him about $22 million a year (16th among WRs), far below the market price for a WR1 of his caliber.
To show he’s serious, the six-year veteran has already held out of OTAs and minicamp. NFL insider James Palmer reports that while head coach Dan Quinn has been in touch with the player, no progress has been made on an extension.
“Let’s remember this, though: [head coach] Dan Quinn has stayed in constant contact with Terry McLaurin throughout this offseason. It hasn’t been contentious in that sense, to where he’s separate from the organization,” Palmer said (via Bleacher Report).
“Is there distance, is there frustration here as well? Certainly. Did they make any headway through the entire month of June? To my understanding, no. They really didn’t. And they were pretty far apart in making any sort of progress. “
Palmer broke down the fact that McLaurin is getting paid less than many WR2s at this point. There are currently seven receivers in the NFL making $30+ million a year. Scary Terry surely deserves to join those ranks. There’s no way he should be making less than Tee Higgins.
“He has comparable numbers to some of the players that have been paid. Obviously, that’s part of Terry’s argument. Does he wanna reset the market? No.”
“We understand Ja’Marr Chase at that $40 million, but what he’s looking at… is that there’s seven players making $30 million or more. And you look at a guy who’s a No. 2 wide receiver in Tee Higgins that’s making about $28 million. Terry understands that he should be, and I agree with this, in those 30s numbers.”
ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler reports that McLaurin is “not happy” with how the negotiations have progressed so far, with the two sides reportedly pretty far apart in their valuations of the player. Could this lead to a trade? If McLaurin demanded it, other teams would surely come calling.
“Would other teams be interested in Terry McLaurin? Certainly they would. He checks every single box. Even on top of the performance side, which he is outstanding at in terms of route-running, tracking the football, the performance on the field. But the teammate, the locker room guy, the effort, he really does every single thing— the toughness—that you could ask for.”
Washington added a ton in the receiver room (Deebo Samuel, Noah Brown, Michael Gallup) and the offensive line (Laremy Tunsil, Tyler Biadasz, Nick Allegretti) this offseason to boost Jayden Daniels’ development.
But the most important part of that development is no doubt his connection with his bona fide WR1. Trading Terry McLaurin now could cause Daniels’ progress to be stunted, so the team would do well to stop playing chicken and pay the man.
