Terry McLaurin's contract holdout is cloud over what should be sunny Commanders camp

USA Today

3 days ago

ASHBURN, Va. – The heartbeat of the Washington Commanders won't be at training camp on the first day of the most-anticipated season in decades. Maybe that sounds and feels more dramatic than it is. That's what Commanders general manager Adam Peters would say.
Instead, McLaurin didn't report to camp on the designated day for veterans (July 22), according to multiple reports, and likely won't be with his teammates as they take the field Wednesday morning.
McLaurin, entering the final year of his deal, expressed to reporters last week a completely different front portrayed by Peters and head coach Dan Quinn on Tuesday as he plainly stated his dissatisfaction with the state of the negotiations.
'I've been pretty frustrated, I'm not gonna lie," McLaurin told reporters. "Everything that has transpired to this point has been pretty disappointing and frustrating.'
There's a chance that everything will sort itself out, McLaurin will be paid, the Commanders will be complete, and no love will be lost. But the Commanders letting a fan favorite, a team captain, somebody the franchise could rely upon to provide positivity – and on-field success – in the face of disarray during Dan Snyder's ownership enter the holdout stage of negotiations is a cloud over what should be an otherwise sunny training camp.
Drafted in the third round in 2019, McLaurin produced no matter who the quarterback was. Then came quarterback and 2024 Offensive Rookie of the Year Daniels, with whom McLaurin hit it off with immediately. Off the field, the bond over their shared faith. On the field, they bond over their affinity for explosive plays and deep balls. He is an ideal vessel to convey Quinn's message to the locker room.
Every day of training camp McLaurin misses will cost him $50,000, according to the collective bargaining agreement. He is set to make $15 million this season and has a $25 million cap hit.
'Without a doubt, I think everybody in this building values Terry very much,' said Peters, entering his second season as the franchise's general manager. 'And we knew that coming in and we knew that even more after spending a year with him. In terms of where we're at, we've had conversations recently and we will look to have some more conversations and we're going to do everything we can in order to get a deal done.
'Like with really all of our players,' Peters added, 'we're expecting everybody to be here (Tuesday).'
On Tuesday, Quinn did not want to entertain hypotheticals. But he and his staff will probably have confronted McLaurin's absence by the time most Americans sipped their first hot beverage of Wednesday morning.
'Better question for next week or (Wednesday) as we get into stuff,' Quinn said. 'We're planning, like Adam said, for everybody to get here and get rocking.'
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McLaurin, who turns 30 in September, has turned in five straight 1,000-yard seasons and was second-team All-Pro in 2024, when he caught a career-best 13 touchdowns during the regular season and three more in the playoffs as the Commanders advanced to the NFC championship game. In the same chat with reporters in which he listed his grievances, McLaurin declared he wanted to spend his entire career with Washington.
'This has been somewhere where I've always wanted to be,' McLaurin said. 'And, you know, just to see how things have played out has been disappointing. Obviously, I understand everything is a business, but at the same time, I want to put myself in a position where I'm valued and I feel appreciated and things like that. Unfortunately, that hasn't transpired the way I wanted it to, so, I'm just trying to take things day by day.'
In 2022, McLaurin signed a three-year deal worth $68.3 million. But his $22.8 million average annual value ranks 17th among wide receivers entering the season, according to Spotrac. The Cincinnati Bengals' Ja'Marr Chase reset the market with a mega-deal that pays his $40.25 million annually on average.
McLaurin is wise enough to know he won't reach that echelon of the 'WR1' price tag. But he's not unreasonable to expect better-compensated than wideouts such as the Cincinnati Bengals' Tee Higgins, D.J. Moore of the Chicago Bears and the Miami Dolphins' Jaylen Waddle (the three make between $27.5-28.75 million annually).
'I don't think I've been a part of a negotiation where it's been really linear and smooth and everything like that,' Peters said. 'But I think understanding where they're at and understanding where we're at and trying to close that gap and come into something is really kind of all the nuance of it.
Peters is no stranger to holdouts that nearly last until kickoff of Week 1. As a member of the San Francisco 49ers' front office, he had a front-row seat to the negotiations general manager John Lynch had with players seeking new deals during the 49ers' sustained run of success such as Trent Williams, Joey Bosa and Brandon Aiyuk.
'You obviously would like to get these things done quicker than longer,' Peters said, 'but it's not always going to happen that way.'
Peters and Quinn constructed this roster with enough emotional intelligence to know that each day without McLaurin isn't just one without one of their best players. It's a day in which they are not whole.
'We're dealing with a really, in the case of Terry, a really good player and a really good person,' Peters said. 'So, really understanding that and never losing sight of that and making sure that, you know, every conversation we have is very straightforward, honest, and in good faith and just keeping that mindset throughout because there's going to be twists and turns but just having that confidence and just understanding our goal is to get a long-term deal done.
'Just keeping focused on that. And whatever happens along the way, just understand that he's a great player and we want to keep him here.'