Terry McLaurin extension shows progress for Washington Commanders

The Terry McLaurin contract extension indicates progress for the Washington Commanders franchise.

On Tuesday the Washington Commanders reached a deal on a contract extension with superstar wide receiver Terry McLaurin. According to Adam Schefter of ESPN on Twitter, the deal is for $71 million over three years.

The deal puts McLaurin right near the top of the wide receiver list in terms of money. And it also keeps him signed with the Commanders through the 2025 season.

There’s really no doubt that he is worth the money. Terry McLaurin has consistently put up big numbers since joining the NFL despite the odds not exactly being stacked in his favor. Washington has had far too many quarterbacks during his tenure, none of which were exactly “good”.

At the very best, they still weren’t the types of QBs you want throwing to a young stud receiver if you’re hoping for their best development.

Meanwhile, there were few pieces around him too. If it wasn’t hard enough to put up big numbers with a lot of bad QBs, McLaurin was doing it when the entire defense knew he was the only real weapon 90% of the time.

Even with heavy focus, he is averaging over 70 receptions, over 1,000 yards, and over five touchdowns a season.

This deal had to get done. Washington couldn’t afford to let a superstar wide receiver just walk away. It would have been a miserable look for the franchise. Sadly though, it wouldn’t have been all that shocking.

Over the last few decades, it wouldn’t have surprised fans if the team did just that.

I mean, they traded Champ Bailey instead of paying him. Why wouldn’t they do something similar with an offensive star now?

So while this is a great move just based on the fact that you’re keeping a star player at a position you haven’t been great at. It’s also great optics. This is a sign that the Washington Commanders truly are trying to be a serious contending franchise.

You draft a big star, you do everything in your power to keep him in the city.

Washington still has some setbacks. There are questions in the secondary and at linebacker. The quarterback position might have gotten a boost this offseason but it’s still not a very exciting situation. But they’ve made steps forward in those areas.

And Commanders fans are sort of conditioned at this point that when the team takes one step forwards, two steps backward are coming somewhere down the road.

In the past, this might have been that step backward. It would have come out that Washington wasn’t going to negotiate until after the year and everyone would’ve understood that as “we’re not signing McLaurin”.

Or they would’ve shipped him off somewhere for someone not near the same value and it would’ve been “at least we got something in return”.

Instead, they have Terry McLaurin locked down for the next four years. Is … is this what good franchises do?