With just 13 days until the Washington Commanders open up the regular season, Terry McLaurin has officially agreed to a contract extension to remain with the organization. NFL Insider Jordan Schultz was the first to report. The extension is for three years and up to $96 million. He receives a $30 million signing bonus with the contract.
This comes after a long negotiation process in which McLaurin made his frustrations clear. The two-time Pro Bowler skipped minicamp, went through a holdout and requested a trade over the past few weeks. But ultimately, the two sides were able to reach an agreement for McLaurin to continue producing for the same franchise where he has spent the past six seasons, or the entirety of his NFL career.
Washington has had plenty of turmoil as an organization in recent years, but McLaurin has been a source of stability. The 29-year-old has tallied over 1,000 receiving yards in five straight seasons and still had 919 receiving yards in his rookie season in the lone year he fell short. The Ohio State product has also tallied 38 career touchdowns while seeing a rotating cast of quarterbacks, with Sam Howell, Taylor Heinicke, Alex Smith, Marcus Mariota, Case Keenum, Kyle Allen and Carson Wentz all throwing him the ball.
It was a breath of fresh air for the Commanders to seemingly solve their quarterback issues by drafting Jayden Daniels with the second overall pick last year. The LSU product had one of the most impressive rookie seasons of any quarterback, which included winning Offensive Rookie of the Year, a Pro Bowl appearance and leading the team to a 12-5 regular season record and Conference Championship. McLaurin was at the top of the list for players most positively impacted by the quarterback stability, pulling in a career-high 13 touchdowns along with his 1,096 receiving yards.
From a fantasy football perspective, McLaurin finished last season ranked sixth among wide receivers with 282.8 total fantasy points based on DraftKings scoring. The 16.7 fantasy points per game ranked 16th among wide receivers and tied for 48th among all positions.
Expectations remain high heading into this season as the Commanders look to build off their best regular-season record and deepest playoff run since 1991. McLaurin is currently being drafted in fantasy football leagues with an ADP of 44 overall and 18th among wide receivers. The contract agreement only solidifies this outlook and there is a case to be made that he should be bumped up a few slots. Ultimately, the expectation was always for McLaurin and the Commanders to reach a long-term extension even if the situation got murkier than most thought it would.
The star wide receiver will begin participating in practice again on Wednesday, and he will be ready to make an immediate Week 1 impact. McLaurin has been one of the most consistent wide receivers in the NFL, even while his quarterback outlook had no stability. With Daniels looking to build off his Rookie of the Year showing, count on McLaurin remaining a huge part of the offense and further climbing in the conversation of the league’s most elite.
Feel confident in selecting him as early as the third round of fantasy football drafts and for McLaurin to be a high-end WR2 or respectable WR1 on your roster. This is more of a sigh of relief than a significant shift in expectations for his upcoming season, but the bottom line is that he will be available for Week 1. Some concerns over a bit of a sophomore slump for Daniels and a tougher schedule for the Commanders prevent me from making the case that he should be a top-10 fantasy WR. But feel confident in McLaurin recording 1,000 receiving yards for the sixth straight season and being a lock to be a top-20 fantasy football wide receiver.
