Everyone loves Washington Commanders wide receiver Terry McLaurin. McLaurin makes it easy. He consistently produces, is terrific off the field and in the locker room, and never complains when he has had every reason.
Earlier this month, Jayden Daniels became McLaurin’s sixth different Week 1 quarterback in his six NFL seasons. In all, McLaurin has caught passes from 12 different quarterbacks during his NFL career.
When Adam Peters was hired as general manager in January, his goal was finally finding McLaurin, a franchise quarterback. Washington believed it found its guy by taking Daniels at No. 2 overall in the 2024 NFL draft. Through three games, Daniels doesn’t look like a future franchise quarterback; he looks like one right now.
However, after two games this season, some were questioning McLaurin after he had only eight receptions for 39 yards. A breakout was certainly coming, right?
During Monday night’s thrilling 38-33 win over the Bengals, McLaurin and Daniels were on the same page, as the veteran wideout caught four passes for 100 yards, including the amazing 27-yard game-clinching touchdown.
After the catch, you could see the emotion on McLaurin’s face as he interacted with Daniels, head coach Dan Quinn, and the rest of his teammates. After the game, his smiling face was all over social media.
On Wednesday, McLaurin spoke to the media and was confident that he and Daniels would get on the same page.
“I think him and I have continued those conversations even from camp to Tampa, I think, obviously, you have to have some realistic expectations when you’re dealing with a rookie quarterback,” McLaurin said. “He does a great job in practice. He’s continued to get better. But when you get in the game, it’s a different speed; sometimes you get different, funky looks, and you may not connect, but I just try to stay patient. The great thing about him, he has a great attitude, and he does a good job of keeping my mind focused that he’s going to keep coming back to me. We get reps at least once or twice a week in deep balls in practice where we’re just working on the catch point, so for us to come through, it was a really big moment for us. But, I think I’m just excited to see how we continue to build off this going forward. Because a guy with his talent and a guy like myself who really wants to make plays, I think he’s going to continue to open up for everything for us, not just for myself.”
Some Terry McLaurin here from Arizona, starting with calm (and some chaos) on that final TD play and getting Jayden Daniels to think a little like Taylor Heinicke: F it, Terry is down there somewhere. pic.twitter.com/vZsvA31S62
— Ben Standig (@BenStandig) September 26, 2024
What about Monday’s game-clinching touchdown?
“We were confident in the call, and it was just a matter of playing big-man football, and that ball that he threw was unbelievable,” McLaurin said. “So, just to be able to come through in that situation where we haven’t seen that kind of opportunity this season with the game on the line, zero coverage, third down, all or nothing, and you execute at a high level, that’s big-time football.”
It was a feel-good moment for McLaurin, Washington’s most-beloved player. Now, the key is how McLaurin, Daniels, and the Commanders follow up Monday’s near-perfect performance on the road against the Cardinals.