Years from now, we might look back on quarterback Jayden Daniels and his rookie season with the Washington Commanders and wonder exactly how he was able to guide his team to the NFC Championship Game with an offense that was its own version of an island of misfit toys.
Of all the reasons Daniels was able to thrive, the main one was the presence of veteran wide receiver Terry McLaurin, who set the franchise single season record with 13 touchdown receptions to go with 82 receptions for 1,096 yards on the way to earning NFL All-Pro honors for the first time.
Bleacher Report’s Alex Ballentine thinks the Commanders’ next move should be to pay up and sign McLaurin to a lucrative contract extension sooner 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.”
Spotrac projects McLaurin to receive a 3-year, $89.7 million contract extension which would pay him $29.9 million per year. McLaurin is about to play the final year of the 3-year, $68.3 million contract extension he signed with the Commanders in March 2022.
Commanders Added Another All-Pro WR in Offseason
For the first time in his career, McLaurin will have another elite wide receiver running alongside him in 2025 after the Commanders traded for fellow NFL All-Pro Deebo Samuel.
The addition of Samuel and Pro Bowl offensive tackle Laremy Tunsil via trades represents the Commanders going all-in as Super Bowl contenders in 2025. The Commanders moved to fully guarantee the final year of Samuel’s contract in 2025 for $17 million, so they’ll be paying through the teeth at the position with McLaurin currently on the books for $19.65 million.
McLaurin has spent his entire career with the Commanders after they selected him in the third round of the 2019 NFL draft out of Ohio State.
Since then, he’s not only been one of the NFL’s best wide receivers while working in relative anonymity, but also one of the most durable — McLauin has only missed 3 games in 6 seasons and hasn’t missed a game since 2020.
Like Heavy Sports’s content? Be sure to follow us.
This article was originally published on Heavy Sports
The post Commanders Urged to Offer $89 Million Extension to ‘Most Deserving’ All-Pro WR appeared first on Heavy Sports.