Terry McLaurin, who was drafted in 2019, went through hell with the Washington Commanders in the first few years of his career. They were owned by Dan Snyder back then, and still named the Redskins. And for a receiver of his talents, he was catching passes from one of the most motley arrays 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 unremarkable QBs he had had to deal 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.
The last season must’ve surely been his favorite. He was finally catching passes from a quality QB in rookie Jayden Daniels. Surely, both players want that partnership to continue. But it will need — and can — continue only if both players get what they deserve. Right now, McLaurin is not.
The deal the receiver is on now pays him about $22 million a year (16th among WRs). That’s 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.
“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,” he added.
Palmer presented the telling fact that McLaurin is 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,” said Palmer.
“We understand Ja’Marr Chase at that $40 million, but what he’s looking at is that there are seven players making $30 million or more. And you look at a guy who’s a No. 2 wide receiver in Tee Higgins, who’s making about $28 million. Terry understands that he should be, and I agree with this, in those 30s numbers,” he added.
ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler reported 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?
Commanders need to think of Jayden Daniels
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,” said Palmer.
“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,” he added.
Washington added a lot of talent in the receiver room (Deebo Samuel, Noah Brown, Michael Gallup) and the offensive line (Laremy Tunsil, Tyler Biadasz, Nick Allegretti) this offseason. This was to boost Daniels’ development.
But the most important part of that development is no doubt his connection with his bona fide WR1. Trading McLaurin now could stunt Daniels’ progress. So the team would do well to stop playing chicken and pay the man.
