Why the Commanders signed Terry McLaurin to an extension

Breaking down what star WR Terry McLaurin brings to the Commanders and why they locked him down for the future

The biggest storyline of the Commanders summer is finally over. On Monday, news broke that the Washington Commanders had agreed to a contract extension with star wide receiver Terry McLaurin, ending his contract dispute that had seen him hold out of all offseason activities including training camp and preseason games. At the time of writing, the full contract details are unknown, but the reports suggest it’s a three-year extension worth “up to” $96million.

I’m sure we’ll see plenty of details being released in the coming days to find out which side compromised the most and who “won” the negotiations, but in reality that doesn’t really matter right now. The most important thing for the Commanders was to have Terry McLaurin on the field by the start of the regular season, and they’ve accomplished that. McLaurin didn’t want to miss games and the Commanders needed him on the field, so really, both sides have won here.

McLaurin is a crucial component of the offense, probably the most important individual piece after Jayden Daniels (though left tackle Laremy Tunsil may rival him for that spot soon). He brings so much to the offense and has such a good connection with Jayden Daniels that it really was essential to get him on the field. But what exactly makes him so good and such an important piece of the offense that the team has agreed to such a large extension for a player who will be 30 next month? Let’s take a closer look.

The first thing that sets McLaurin apart from other receivers on the roster is his deep threat. The Commanders will certainly hope rookie Jaylin Lane can offer another deep threat and will be encouraged by his preseason showing, but as of now he’s still a very unproven rookie. McLaurin is the only proven deep threat on the roster, and there’s far more to being a deep threat than just pure speed.

Here we see a deep shot to McLaurin against the Bengals early last season. The speed is obviously a crucial part, but McLaurin sets up the route so well with his path and tempo. McLaurin takes a slightly tighter split with the tight end initially lining up outside of him before motioning into the formation. It’s a play-action pass, so McLaurin knows he has time to set up this route properly. At the snap of the ball, he uses his tight alignment to set up the corner. He angles his path wider towards the numbers, forcing the cornerback to widen with him. The corner opens his hips to the sideline, prepared to break on any out-breaking route and also turn and run with a go route.

McLaurin runs at a decent pace but clearly has an extra gear to go to, which you’ll see is crucial to the success of this play. He is able to eat up the cushion between himself and the corner while still working his path wide. He gets close to the cornerback and sells a strong jab step outside to get the corner to believe he’s breaking outside. McLaurin uses that step to adjust his path and get more vertical before hitting that extra gear to accelerate and burst by the cornerback. Having that extra gear to go to gives McLaurin the advantage as he runs by the coverage and down the field, tracking the ball and running under it to complete the deep pass for a huge gain.

McLaurin’s speed was obviously a big factor there, but it was the smaller details of the angle of his path and the changes in tempo that made the route a success and makes McLaurin a consistent deep threat. Another key detail that makes McLaurin such a good deep threat is his ball tracking. He’s so good at tracking the ball and adjusting his path and speed to the trajectory of the throw.

On this play against the Eagles, the Commanders use an empty backfield to spread out the defense and try to uncover any potential blitzes. The Eagles are blitzing, but Daniels points to the wrong blitzer and slides the line the wrong way. Regardless, Daniels does identify that it is a blitz, which means he knows he has McLaurin one-on-one on the outside. All offenses look to attack one-on-one matchups for their top receivers, but Kingsbury’s system in particular gives the quarterback the freedom to take shots down the field in these situations.

The route from McLaurin is again detailed. Off the snap, he works inside towards the numbers, taking the cornerback inside with him and creating space for himself to work with later in the route. The Eagles blitz generates a free rusher off the edge, so Daniels doesn’t have time to wait for McLaurin to get open down the field. However, he has complete trust in McLaurin to win a one-on-one, so he puts the ball out there with lots of air on it, giving McLaurin a chance to go get it and at least try and win a jump ball if nothing else.

At the time of the throw, the defender still has nearly five yards of cushion on McLaurin, but it doesn’t matter. McLaurin finds that extra gear again and runs by the corner, who was anticipating an in-breaking route. Thanks to McLaurin’s initial angle inside, he creates lots of room for Daniels to throw to outside. Daniels uses all of that room and McLaurin shows off his tracking ability. He locates the ball in the air and then adjusts his path and tempo to fade towards the sideline and run under the pass. He secures the pass just before the end zone and has the presence of mind to make sure to double tap his feet in bounds and get into the end zone before going out of bounds to complete the touchdown.

It might look fairly easy, but that type of ball tracking is far from it. Running at speed and locating the ball in the air and following it over your shoulder, adjusting your path to the trajectory of the throw is a very tough skill. McLaurin looks like an all star center fielder with how easy he makes it look.

That tracking ability, along with McLaurin’s contested catch ability, means that Daniels can trust him to go make a play even when he’s not necessarily open.

This time we see McLaurin working from the slot on one of Daniels’ favorite concepts, the slot fade. Like the Eagles, the Steelers attempt to blitz Daniels and do manage to get a free rusher up the middle. That means Daniels doesn’t have time to wait for McLaurin to clear the coverage. However, like before, Daniels understands that a blitz typically means a one-on-one matchup for his star receiver. He can see that the corner in coverage is quite tight to McLaurin on the slot fade, but that there is space out to the sideline to work with. Without time to wait, Daniels pulls the trigger and trusts McLaurin to go make a play.

And what a play McLaurin makes. He again shows his tracking ability to follow the ball as he fades his route out towards the sideline. He maintains his tempo despite the corner in coverage being on top of the route almost all the way. Right at the end, McLaurin hits that extra gear to adjust to the final part of the pass. That extra burst is just enough for him to get a slight step on the corner just at the end of the play. That’s all he needs to then lay out with a diving catch to bring in the pass and get both feet in bounds to complete it for another big gain.

It was an excellent throw by Daniels, placed in a spot where only McLaurin was going to make a play on the ball, but it’s an even better catch by McLaurin to track the ball, make the catch away from his body and get both feet in bounds as he dives to complete the catch successfully. That type of ball tracking and body control makes McLaurin one of the best contested catch receivers in the NFL.

The speed, ball tracking, route running, tempo changes and body control all lead to McLaurin being an excellent deep threat and one that Daniels trusts completely. That’s why in key situations, Daniels is always willing to go to McLaurin and take a shot, even when it might seam risky.

On third and seven with just over two minutes remaining in the game, the Commanders put the ball in the hands of their young franchise quarterback trusting him to go win them the game. They could easily have tried to run the ball, eat up some clock and kick a field goal, but they went aggressive to try and win the game instead. They were rewarded for that intent. The Bengals show a Cover-0 blitz, with every available defender rushing the quarterback. That means Daniels has almost no time to deliver a throw, but it also means Terry McLaurin is left one-on-one on the outside. As we’ve already seen, Daniels trusts McLaurin to win those one-on-one matchups consistently, so there’s really only one place the ball is going here.

McLaurin runs a double move, stuttering at the top of his route to fake a curl before taking off towards the back pylon in the end zone. As Daniels drops back to pass, he spots the free rusher off the edge. He drifts back slightly to buy some time and spots the corner bite on the double move from McLaurin. Before McLaurin is even level with the corner, Daniels makes the throw. It’s great anticipation, but he also doesn’t have much choice. The defender is there to hit him a mere second later, so Daniels puts the ball up with a lot of trust in McLaurin to go make a play. The throw from Daniels is on the money and McLaurin runs under the pass perfectly to secure the touchdown, getting his foot and knee down in bounds to complete the catch and win the game for the Commanders.

After the game, it came out that the play wasn’t exactly one that Kliff Kingsbury had designed and planned for during the week. You can see how slot receiver Luke McCaffrey just kind of wanders out to the flat at the snap, unsure of exactly what he’s meant to be doing. But it turns out that McLaurin had identified a matchup he liked and told Kingsbury to give him a chance in that situation. Kingsbury trusted McLaurin, making a rare call to move McLaurin from his usual spot on the left side of the field to the right side, and Daniels showed that same trust. He stood in there and took a huge hit to make the throw on third and seven. He could have easily tried to scramble away from the pressure or look to throw a quick checkdown to avoid the hit, but he stood in there and made the throw, trusting McLaurin to go make the play and McLaurin repaid that trust shown in him by both Kingsbury and Daniels.

So that deep threat from McLaurin is legitimate and a huge part of the offense because it opens up so much for receivers underneath. For newly acquired receiver Deebo Samuel, who thrives on getting the ball quickly and creating yards after the catch, having McLaurin be a legitimate deep threat on the outside should help create more space for him to work underneath. But McLaurin isn’t just a deep threat. He’s someone capable of winning quickly underneath too.