ASHBURN, Va. (AP) — Terry McLaurin accounting for eight catches and 39 yards through the first two games of the season made it look as if the Washington Commanders were not using their highest-paid player enough.
Now, nearly halfway through quarterback Jayden Daniels' rookie year, McLaurin ranks fourth in the NFL with 579 yards receiving and is on pace for the most productive season of his professional career. He and the team are 6-2 for the first time since he entered the league in 2019, and there's a chance McLaurin gets the ball even more in the second half as the Commanders chase a playoff spot.
“Every game with a guy like that you come out of it saying, ‘I wish we could have gotten it to him more,'” offensive coordinator Kliff Kingsbury said Thursday. “He’s a guy, you want to make sure every week, if the money’s on the table, the ball’s going to him.”
Early on and for long stretches in games, the ball isn't going to McLaurin. Daniels tried, throwing the ball to Washington's top receiver eight times in Week 2, and it did not amount to much.
What has been the difference since? In McLaurin's mind, “Patience.”
“Just having some patience and trusting that the work that we’ve been putting in since the offseason is going to start showing,” McLaurin said. “Patience has been the key. Obviously, Jayden has come in a lot more ready than most as a rookie, but at the same time, there’s still obviously a learning curve."
Daniels is learning quickly, and he has emerged as the heavy favorite to be AP Offensive Rookie of the Year. Despite only a handful of games of experience at this level, the 2023 Heisman Trophy winner seems to have found a balance in not forcing throws to McLaurin.
“When the defense permits it — that’s how I know when to give him the ball,” Daniels said.
Eighteen different receivers have been targeted more than McLaurin this season, but the 29-year-old who has played with a dozen QBs during his time in Washington is not one to make a scene about demanding more attention.
“He never asks for it, Kingsbury said. ”He never comes back and complains. He never gets on the quarterback. He just does his job. And when that guy is doing it like that and blocking and playing without the ball, then everybody else is going to get in line, and that’s kind of the beauty of him."
That doesn't mean McLaurin, who's making more than $24 million, does not want to be counted on. Quite the opposite.
"I just want to continue to be the guy for our offense, where we need a play and they trust me to do that," McLaurin said. “It’s been really fun playing with (Daniels) and the rest of the receiver group that we have because each week it seems like somebody else is making a play to help us win, so I know it doesn’t all fall on me.”
It was Noah Brown on Daniels' Hail Mary touchdown to beat Chicago. But on the play immediately before that, McLaurin caught a 13-yard pass and got out of bounds near midfield to make it all possible.
That reception gave him 40 on the season and put the Ohio State product on track to surpass 1,200 yards in a season for the first time. It's no coincidence this is coming with Kingsbury now in charge of the offense, which is the league's third best and has scored the third-most points.
“He’s allowed me to really open up a part of my game that I always feel like it’s been there, which is the deep balls down the field,” McLaurin said. “Being able to add that to our offense and my arsenal has been huge for me individually, but as a collective group I think we’ve done a good job of just trying to make plays down the field, and he’s going to give us ample opportunities to do that.”
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Stephen Whyno, The Associated Press
