Terry McLaurin is one of the three prominent wide receivers from the 2019 NFL draft class skipping a portion or all of voluntary offseason team activities while seeking new contract deals. The landscape of wide receivers’ contracts is evolving around the league.
Deebo Samuel has requested a trade from the San Francisco 49ers. A.J.Brown has scrubbed his social media of references of the Tennessee Titans. McLaurin’s situation hasn’t escalated to those levels just yet.
But the four-year wide out will not do any on-field work during OTAs. However, he has participated in team meetings and workouts, according to reports.
Of the three situations, McLaurin’s is most likely to end well. On Monday while talking to the media about the team’s draft preparations, general manager Martin Mayhew said the team has had “dialogue” with McLaurin and his agent about a new deal.
“We have had dialogue with Terry and his agent. We’re really excited about the opportunity of having Terry continue with us for a long time,” Mayhew said per Nicki Jhabvala of the Washington Post.
McLaurin is in the final year of his rookie contract. Because he was not a first-round pick, he doesn’t have the luxury of a fifth-year option for the 2023 season. He’s set to make $2.79 million in 2022.
A new deal will likely pay him nearly 10 times that amount per year. This offseason top wide receivers Davante Adams and Tyreek Hill forced trades in order to get their new deals.
McLaurin isn’t expected to fetch the $30 million per year Hill received from the Miami Dolphins or the $28M per year Adams got from the Las Vegas Raiders. However, he’ll get a significant bump. It’s a great sign that there is a conversation and McLaurin is present in some capacity at OTAs.
McLaurin emerged as Washington’s No. 1 wide receiver as a rookie. He has led the team in receptions and receiving yards each of his first three seasons. He is coming off back-to-back 1,000-yard seasons.
Through three seasons, McLaurin has 222 catches for 3,090 yards and 16 touchdowns. He has more catches, receiving yards and receiving touchdowns than Samuel and Brown. Hopefully Washington and McLaurin can reach a deal that will reward the WR for his production.
