It is not news to say that Terry McLaurin is holding out for a new contract.
As part of the negotiations he has refused to show up to mandatory training camp, earning himself fines in the process.
While fans rarely agree about anything, everyone loves McLaurin, both for his on-field performances, and his character.
He has delivered on the field, despite working with average quarterbacks, dysfunctional owners, and less than stellar head coaches and offensive coordinators.
He has been a class act while doing it.
Where we stand
Since the new ownership, new head coach and offensive coordinator, and a new quarterback in Jayden Daniels, things have changed greatly for McLaurin.
He has gone from being the best of a bunch of losers, to playing for a Super Bowl contending team.
The issue for McLaurin is not this year – which he has a contract for – but what happens next year.
As a 29-year-old wide receiver he is already technically past his prime. Most wide receivers in the NFL are between 24 and 28 years old, with the average age of 26.99. Data suggests most players in the position decline from the age of 29.
In that sense, the timing is terrible for McLaurin. He has spent his best years playing with muppets, and now there is a chance to win it all he is ‘getting too old’.
Despite his age, and the probabilities, there are always exceptions. I am sure that almost all the fans want to see McLaurin retire as a Washington player.
We would all love him to get a new contract and finish his time in the NFL playing for Washington.
However, from the point of view of the team, giving him a big contract right now makes no sense. For one thing, he is already on a big contract.
The current deal
In 2022, McLaurin signed a three-year, $68,364,000 deal – including a $28,000,000 signing bonus, $53,154,000 guaranteed, and an average annual salary of $22,788,000.
This year McLaurin stands to make $18,300,000, which is 9.13% of the league cap.
His hit on the Salary Cap in 2025 is $25.5m, second only to Daron Payne on $26.1m. His base salary is the fourth highest on the team after Payne, Tunsil, and Lattimore -who better damned well deliver this year!
For those saying, “pay the man”, we are already paying the man.
The rumour is he wants in the region of $30m a year for the next three years, and from one side, I can understand it.
He is thinking about his ‘nest egg’ and retirement, and he must negotiate while he is hot, or before he is not.
From the other side, by the end of this year he will have already earned over $72 million as a Washington player. He should have dozens of nest eggs stashed away already, and quite frankly, he is richer than almost every Washington fan will ever dream of being.
Right now, he is still on the last salary he negotiated, so he is still looking at being paid another $18m this year already. Hardly something to cry about.
The bigger picture
Looking at the bigger picture, he is beloved by the fans, and is almost certainly Daniels’ go-to receiver.
Washington were one missed call and one win away from going to the Super Bowl last year. While anything is possible, and nothing is certain, the odds are looking good for another Super Bowl run this year.
General Manager Adam Peters has thrown in his lot by making trades for three other 29 and 30 year old players in what I consider to be “win now moves”, which makes sense.
In two years’ time ‘JD5’ is going to have one year left on his contract, and is going to want $300m plus for a new contract. At that point, Washington will have a nightmare of salary caps to deal with.
And that is the bigger issue. What does each player get paid, versus what is good for the team. If each player maximises their own value, and their own salary, then the team cannot win, the salary cap rules do not allow it.
The same as everyone else…
Before anyone cries a river for the players, it is not like we are asking them to play for tea and biscuits, or beer and pretzels. These guys are on life changing money.
And that is what irks me right now. The team is being built to win this year, or next.
We are eight weeks from pre-season, and 12 weeks from the regular season. Now is the time to put the effort in, and McLaurin does not want to show up because $18m is not enough incentive to do so?
What I would love McLaurin to do is put it all on the line, as he has done for his career, and take us to the Super Bowl.
If he does that, he will become a legend. His negotiating power will be through the roof, and he will probably get an even sweeter deal, either at Washington, or elsewhere.
Instead, he is holding the organisation to ransom, and letting his team mates down. It may be what most players do in the NFL, but I always thought McLaurin was better than most.
HTTR
