Years from now, we may look back on quarterback Jayden Daniels’ inaugural season with the Washington Commanders and marvel how he was able to lead his club to the NFC Championship Game with an offence that resembled its own version of an island of misfit toys.
The presence of veteran wide receiver Terry McLaurin, who set the team single-season record with 13 touchdown receptions to go with 82 receptions for 1,096 yards on his way to receiving NFL All-Pro honours for the first time, was a major factor in Daniels’ success.
According to Alex Ballentine of Bleacher Report, the Commanders’ next action should be to pay McLaurin and sign him to a hefty contract extension sooner rather than later.
“Of all the players who deserve a pay raise for what they’ve done in Washington, Terry McLaurin is the most deserving,” Ballentine wrote. “The receiver has been forced to play with some bad quarterbacks in some questionable offenses, and he’s been a steady producer regardless of the circumstance. It’s no surprise he put together his fifth-consecutive 1,000-yard season with Jayden Daniels throwing him the football.”
Growing Calls For McLaurin to Get New Contract
USA Today’s Michael Middlehurst-Schwartz also put McLaurin on his list of NFL players who are top candidates for “massive contract extensions” this offseason.
“McLaurin seems like a sure thing to get an extension this offseason,” Middlehurst-Schwartz wrote on February 22. “While McLaurin turns 30 in September, he’s as vital as any non-quarterback figure on the team. Between the need to address the lack of any guaranteed money on the final year of his current deal and the benefit to Washington of reducing his $25.5 million cap hit, there’s ample motivation to reach an agreement. Doing so quickly would help the Commanders get out ahead of a receiver market that only seems to be growing exponentially.”
According to Spotrac, McLaurin is expected to sign a three-year, $89.7 million deal extension that would pay him $29.9 million annually. McLaurin is ready to enter the third year of his three-year, $68.3 million contract extension with the Commanders, which he signed in March 2022.
Commanders Added Another All-Pro WR in Offseason
McLaurin will be joined by another outstanding wide receiver for the first time in his career in 2025, after the Commanders traded for fellow NFL All-Pro Deebo Samuel.
The deals for Samuel and Pro Bowl offensive lineman Laremy Tunsil indicate the Commanders’ full commitment to being Super Bowl contenders in 2025. The Commanders moved to fully guarantee Samuel’s final year of contract in 2025 for $17 million, meaning they’ll be paying through the nose at the position, where McLaurin is now owed $19.65 million.
McLaurin has spent his whole career with the Commanders, who selected him in the third round of the 2019 NFL draft from Ohio State.
Since then, he has not only been one of the NFL’s top wide receivers while remaining relatively unknown, but also one of the most durable – McLauin has missed only three games in six seasons and has not missed a game since 2020.
