Terry McLaurin working to improve footwork at top of routes

Breaking down what the Commanders star receiver was focused on improving this offseason

Every offseason, Washington Commanders star wide receiver Terry McLaurin reviews his play and tries to identify a specific part of his game to focus on improving. Back in 2021, for example, McLaurin worked with former Seahawks receiver Doug Baldwin on his releases against press coverage. There was a clear difference in his ability to release off the line of scrimmage against press coverage that season as a result. 

So what then is McLaurin working on this offseason? The 28-year-old receiver isn’t resting on his laurels and is instead still looking to improve. Back in April, he was asked about his focus for this offseason and gave a very detailed response:

“I got some really good work down in Florida. Just working on my footwork, just being better at the top of my routes. Sharper on my speed cuts, dig routes, out routes and just being cleaner with my footwork at the top of the routes.” McLaurin explained. “With a little bit of zone coverage that we’ve seen in the past with some teams, kind of running more two high shell, you're gonna get a little bit more of ‘catch technique’ where guys are kind of sitting at the top of your route. 

So I want to be better at being efficient at getting out of those routes when a guy is kind of sitting at my depth, whether it's a 15-yard comeback or a 12-yard curl route, you know being able to get out efficiently so I can create and keep the separation within my route. Obviously I’m still working on my ball skills and making sure I’m still catching a lot of footballs in the offseason, but just really being better at the top of the routes and sharper out of my cuts is something I think I can improve on.”

I thought it could be interesting to see exactly the type of thing McLaurin is talking about, so I went back and watched some of his play from the 2023 season and sure enough, found some examples of the types of plays he was talking about. 

Here’s the first example I wanted to look at. When McLaurin talked about defenders playing a “catch technique”, what I believe he means is corners squatting on routes without really giving any ground. You can see that clearly here on this play. McLaurin is running an in-breaking route from the left side of the formation. Eagles cornerback James Bradberry aligns eight yards off the line of scrimmage with outside leverage, knowing he has two deep safeties inside of him as his help. 

At the snap of the ball, Bradberry takes a step back to get to about 10 yards of depth from the line of scrimmage, but then makes a clear effort to hold his ground and sit on the route rather than continuing to gain depth. From this squatting position, Bradberry can get a clean read on McLaurin’s route and as soon as McLaurin starts to cut inside, he’s able to drive down on the route. McLaurin’s route isn’t the sharpest, without any real fake or threat outside or intent to challenge Bradberry vertically to get him out of his squatting position before making his cut. Instead, he rounds off his route as he breaks inside, making it easy for Bradberry to read and break on it. 

Bradberry arrives at the catch point at the same time as McLaurin and his presence is enough to prevent a catch. In fact, the ball sails past both of them into the hands of the deep safety for an interception. 

This is likely the type of play McLaurin was talking about trying to improve on. His route isn’t great here. He failed to give the corner any real challenge. You’d ideally like to see him get vertical quicker to challenge the corner that way, forcing the defender out of his squat. At the very least you’d like to see him use some sort of move or fake to the outside to try and get the corner to bite outside first and open up the route inside. But McLaurin didn’t do any of that. The roundedness of his route made it very easy to read and break on. 

Let's look at another example.