The Washington Commanders want to keep wide receiver Terry McLaurin around for a long time. While the wide receiver hasn’t said too much about his future, head coach Ron Rivera and general manager Martin Mayhew have made it clear how important McLaurin is to Washington’s future.
McLaurin was in the news this week when ESPN’s Adam Schefter reported the fourth-year wideout was reporting to Washington for the voluntary offseason program but would not participate in any of the on-field work.
We made our case on why the Commanders should pay McLaurin.
Now, Gary Davenport of Bleacher Report explains why he believes McLaurin will be the next star wide receiver traded, following in the footsteps of Davante Adams and Tyreek Hill.
Davenport spends plenty of time telling readers how bad Washington is as an organization in his article. That’s not exactly breaking news, but it has also become a bit tiring, equating owner Dan Snyder’s past misdeeds with what Rivera is building on the football side. When Rivera spoke on this very topic last month, this is precisely the type of thing the head coach was referencing.
Could McLaurin find better options for himself if he pushed the organization for a trade? Certainly. But Davenport nor anyone else knows what is important to McLaurin regarding his future. McLaurin may share Rivera’s vision for the Commanders. Only McLaurin knows what’s best for McLaurin.
Also, are we sure that McLaurin really wants to commit long-term to Washington? Sure, he said the right things—players usually do. Schefter even noted McLaurin still plans to report to OTAs even without taking part in on-field work. But Carson Wentz is just the latest in the carousel of caca that has been Washington’s QB situation in recent years. Yet Wentz will probably be the best signal-caller that McLaurin has played with in the NFL.
That’s just depressing.
While it’s easy to pile on Washington as an organization, it’s equally as easy to pile on its new quarterback. Perhaps Wentz knowing this is his final chance to be a starter is what gets his career back on track.
Is that likely? Recent history says no, but it’s certainly not impossible.
Davenport isn’t wrong in some of his assertions. There are plenty of questions about Washington’s immediate future, especially at the quarterback position. And while the Commanders were third in the NFC East in 2021, they could easily win the division in 2022. Much of that depends on Wentz and Washington’s defense bouncing back.
While the title of the article told readers why McLaurin would be traded, Davenport conceded he doesn’t believe that’s the most likely outcome:
Is a trade involving Terry McLaurin the most likely conclusion to this scenario? No. The most likely outcome is that McLaurin gets his money and spends the next several years making plays and piling up stats for 7-10 Commanders teams.
I thought we were being told “why” McLaurin would be traded — not should be.