Terry McLaurin’s role in the Washington Commanders’ offense is changing, but one thing hasn’t: he still can’t be allowed to vanish.
That was the jarring part of Washington’s Week 1 loss. In a game packed with other storylines, McLaurin came away with just two catches for 14 yards. For a player who has made slow starts part of his early-season profile over eight years, this one stands out a little differently.
There’s context here, of course. McLaurin is trying to put last season behind him after a nagging quad/hip flexor injury held him to 10 games in 2025 and a career-low 58.2 yards per contest.
He also enters this season under the weight of the three-year, $97 million contract he pushed so hard for a summer ago. Washington made the investment, and now it needs the return.
But the Commanders also have something McLaurin has never really had before: help.
That’s the part that softens the blow of a quieter day. Offensive coordinator David Blough said in the offseason that he wanted to get McLaurin 10 touches per game, though Week 1 showed that was more ambition than reality. Still, that idea was formed before Washington signed Stefon Diggs and before it knew what it had in third-round rookie Antonio Williams.
Both newcomers found the end zone at Lincoln Financial Field, and both looked like real pieces of what Washington wants to build on offense in 2026. That leaves McLaurin in a different spot than usual. He is still the player everyone expects to lead the receiver room, but the Commanders now have enough depth that he does not have to carry the same burden he has in the past.
It would not even be a surprise if Diggs ends up outproducing him this season.
Even so, McLaurin can’t disappear the way he did for long stretches in this one. Washington lost by two points on the road as a heavy underdog, and during the three quarters when the offense was basically stuck in place, a big play from No. 17 could have changed the feel of the afternoon.
He did deliver one. On his second catch, McLaurin converted a critical fourth down on Washington’s final drive, one of the game’s biggest plays.
But that was about it. There was no explosive gain, no deep shot, no one of those downfield grabs he has made a habit of producing at least a couple times per game over the course of his career.
The ball hardly came his way at all, with only four targets on the day. Quinyon Mitchell’s coverage for Philadelphia deserves some credit there, but that has to shift as the season moves forward.
Washington has more receivers now, and that’s a good thing. But McLaurin is still too central to the offense to be erased.
He has answered slow Week 1s before, including during his career year in 2024. The Commanders need him, Blough needs him, and Jayden Daniels needs him to make sure this one ends the same way.
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