Washington Commanders Lowballing Terry McLaurin? | Grant & Danny

Washington Commanders Lowballing Terry McLaurin? | Grant & Danny

I want to talk Terry McLaren out of the shoot because there’s been two developments that caught my attention today. The first of which was a report from Jeremy Fowler of ESPN who again seemed to have more of an indication and more of an inclination on money than anybody else has had. And then the other was a local report on the willingness of the team maybe to up their offer. So, we’ll get into both of those two things, but to start with what Jeremy Fowler had to say, quote, he has wanted metrics of the DK Medaf contract, which is $32 million. I’m told the commanders have only been slightly above where he was from before, which is $23 million. So, to take that gap, that’s 7 to8 million that they have to bridge. And Washington, I’m told, has gotten some calls about McLaren. There is some interest leaguewide. So, I’ll start with the end of that report, if you will, from Jeremy Fowler of ESPN. No kidding. They’ve gotten calls. You know how many teams are interested in Terry McLaren, who’s only getting 15 a.5 million in cash this year. Now, his cap number is far more substantial, 25 million. But it goes without saying, it’s pretty damn obvious he’s on the trade market via his agent essentially and himself. They want to be traded. So, they’re announcing to 31 other teams, hey, trade for me. The commanders are saying they’re not trading them. And I think most of us agree they’re not going to. But teams can still call. Everybody’s got Adam Peter’s number who’s in a front office around the NFL, Toby. And what they’re doing is they’re picking up the phone and saying, “Hey, you trading Terry McLaren?” And he’s going, “No.” So, the last part of that to me is a nothing burger when he says teams have reached out. Any other brain busters? Did anybody eat a hot dog at the ballpark today? Want want to update me on did the Nats not hit very well again? Like no kidding. Teams have reached out. Yeah, I mean teams have probably reached out to Dallas about Micah Parson’s availability. Teams have reached out to Cincinnati obviously about Trey Hendrickson’s availability. Probably the same thing happened about James Cook with Buffalo. Maybe the least of the four. But yeah, of course when a guy requests a trade naturally teams are going to check in and see what the price tag is. I think what’s interesting here is saying that okay he’s making 23 million they’re willing to go slightly above that. So you’re looking 24 25 million and that’s a low number for Terry McLaren. And I could understand some of the frustration from Terry’s side if you’re looking at it saying I have my career year. I’ve done the same thing year in year out. I’ve gone over a thousand yards. I’ve been uber consistent. And I think the difficult part too is you know Adam Peters walks in here and last year was his first year. So what is the couple of years before that where Terry McLaren was the model citizen had good years that’s great and all but Adam Peters is like I’m not paying you for that I wasn’t here for that I’m glad what you did last year but that value from last year with you turning the age of 30 is not worth more than 24 $25 million but McLaren’s looking at it saying I don’t care that you just got here last year I’ve played my whole career and so that’s how you end up in this situation I’m just surprised that we’re here on August 7th and we’re not making more progress because guess what? All these same things were true leaving last year, right? Going into this off season. Like these discussions could have been made in June, even going into July. Before we get into all that, I’m just sticking with the idea of teams reaching out and calling them. Yeah, I want to just dismiss that outright as interesting. Of course, teams are going to call. If they say they’re going to trade him, 25 teams will try to trade for him. So, that part I don’t care about. The other part which we haven’t gotten into but you kind of just jumped into there is the second part of this report which is that they’re looking for the DK Metaf money which we know 32 million. Now Adam Shfter went on record to say they want more than DK Metaf. He even said what was the word he used? Substantially more I think or something like a lot more. I still don’t understand what that means. Like if if you have something tell us if you have a number please use it. I don’t know how you would know that they want a lot more than 32 but you don’t know how much. So that part was weird to me. But the the idea that they’re still seven or eight million apart on August 7th feels like malpractice on everybody’s side to to your point because you did have this is what you were just getting to I think May and June and July and we’re still 78 million apart. But here I think is the best angle toes on this on this Jeremy Fowler report. He’s suggesting that the team, he says, “The commanders have only been slightly above where he was from before.” Now, mind you, he’s getting this from the agent, obviously. All right, let’s call a spade a spade. Adam Peters is not talking to Jeremy Fowler about numbers, right? This presumably is coming from either Buddy Baker directly or somebody tied in with Terry McLaren. But he’s saying that the team is offering him a very minimal upgrade from his pay last year, $23 million. What does that mean to you, Toby? That tells you that they’re a lot closer to that Courtland Sutton number of 23 and a half than the DK Metaf number of 33. And what I want to ask people is if that’s actually true, like we don’t know the numbers. We’re all talking about this and giving opinions and popping off with takes not really knowing the numbers. But if we take this report by Fowler of ESPN is gospel and the team is actually down close to 23 million a year for McLaren. Do you feel any differently? If they’re offering him 30 million a year and he’s saying no, that would seem like a Terry McLaren problem. If they’re offering him 32.5 million a year and him and Buddy Baker are going, “We want more.” Then I think you could go as far as to say Terry’s being ridiculous. Yeah, his ask is absurd. This is outrageous. Show up, work, get your butt to camp. But if they’re offering him essentially the same money he got on his last deal with a much higher salary cap now, that’s the part that no one talks about. The cap has gone up hugely. The percentage of the cap then would go down. It’s a worse contract than the one you signed before your best season where you just helped carry this team to the NFC Championship game. If that’s true that they’re offering 23 or 24 million a year, doesn’t that change how we should feel about this a little bit? Or at least how we feel about Terry’s holding? Yeah. I mean, this is kind of where I’ve been coming from all along because I when you hear the reports that they’re significantly apart, I’m just assuming that Terry isn’t being ridiculous. Maybe he is to your point. And why do you assume that? I just don’t I think he understands the age factor in this where he’s not going to ask for 35 million. I think he understands where he ranks in the hierarchy in terms of he’s not in tier one with Justin Jefferson and Jamar Chase cuz Jamar Chase is getting 40 and a quarter, Justin Jefferson’s getting 35. I think he understands at my age where I rank, I’m not with those guys. But DK Metaf, okay, 33, so slightly below that. I think that’s reasonable. when someone signs that contract, the other side, the team’s going to look at it and say, “Well, we didn’t sign that contract. We’re not the idiots that gave out that contract, but I’m gonna say someone was willing to, so why can’t I ask there?” So, if he’s, you know, around 32 $33 million, I don’t think that’s unreasonable as a starting point, right? Probably not going to get that. That’s how negotiations work. We don’t just start and like, hey, I want 10, you want five, we end up at seven and a half. It feels like the team starting point should be 27 28. And that’s the point. That’s where I’m saying when they’re significantly apart, we’re hearing seven and eight. Unless Terry’s asking for 35, then they’re not at 28. They’re in the low 20s, the mid 20s, which I think is ridiculous. Well, we have callers sometimes that will say, “If Terry’s really asking for 35, then trading him is okay with me.” Or, “If Terry’s really asking for 35, then, you know, he’s no longer the team guy that I thought he was or whatever.” And I don’t disagree with that, but I would put it this way. If the team’s really offering him 23. Yeah. If the team’s really offering him even $24 million a year, that is disrespectful. Like that is a lowballing pretty egregious offer. Courtland Sutton, who has a worse injury history, who is not as durable, who is not as productive, is just not as good a player, just signed for 23.5 million with Denver in a very, very different situation in my opinion in terms of import to the offense. Yeah. I I mean, look, we we were doing the Terry or game the other day. At no point did Courtland Sutton come up and if both of us were asked, we’d say, “Oh, Terry by a mile.” And yet he got 23 and a half and you’re willing to go just above what he’s already making, which is around that number. So, you’re going 2425. And this is where I think I’d be on Terry’s side more is because I think it’s the team that is on the low end. I don’t think that Terry’s being unreasonable. That’s going to be, like we said, naturally in negotiations, you’re going to start at the high bar and both sides are going to have to concede and get somewhere in the middle. I think if you got to that 2930 number, maybe Terry’s more willing to sign it or maybe he truly needs to be over that 30 number and then that’s more of a discussion of whether he’s being unreasonable or not. But if you’re the team and you’re starting at such a low offer, I mean, think about this from your own aspect, right? If you’re say fantasy football or something of that nature, if I’m trying to get Christian McCaffrey off of you, I’m not going to offer you my worst player on my team. I’m going to give you something that I’m willing to give up, but I’m going to start on the low end. Right? What they’re starting with is unreasonably low in my opinion. If you’re starting at 2425, then Terry has every right to say, “Well, what what have we been doing this whole time? What what’s the whole point of this?” Yeah. I also come back to something that I think has to be brought up every now and then, which is this is not just a negotiation where you go to football GM101 if you’re Adam Peters and like this is how you negotiate with player number 462. Yeah. This is the face of this outfit who is the version of what you’re trying to mold your players into as a human being and as a leader and as a player and as a cultural piece, right? And so to to lowball and again I’m going to call 23 million a year a lowball. I don’t know that that’s what what they’re offering. I’m just going with Jeremy Fowler’s number here. But if you’re going to be lowballing him, that’s a much worse deal than just lowballing some random dude who’s on the free agent market. It’s like, “No, I’m not signing that. Call me when you’re serious.” This is not harmless in that way. Like, no wonder why he’d be angry and and do a press conference at a car dealership where he goes, “I don’t feel valued.” Because again, I want to go back to the growth in the salary cap year in and year out. I remember years ago talking to Kirk Cousins during one of the many years of his ongoing charade of uh you know back and forth with this team, right? And one of the things he kept bringing up to me was what would be awesome is if a quarterback could ever lock in the ability to make a percentage of the cap because the cap grows year in and year out and it’s one of the reasons why teams and players are always at odds is the shifting market. Like after a year these deals get dated. I promise you, Buddy Baker would tell you this. Buddy Baker’s point on Justin Jefferson making 35 is that 35 then is now worth 41 or you know or whatever it is, right? And so the commanders look at it and they go, “Well, Justin Jefferson makes $35 million a year.” And Buddy Baker will go, “Not really. On this salary cap, as soon as he gets back in line, that’s now 41.” Because it’s the percentage of the cap that continues to grow. It would be like I I know we shouldn’t compare the NFL to our jobs and people overdo that, but for me or you, if we got the exact same money, sign a two-year contract, two years later, our company comes back to us after huge productivity and says, “We’re going to give you the same money.” Well, not only is that a little bit of a kick to the giblets because you’re not getting a raise, but cost of living grows up, right? Like, I’m now one more kid deeper. I’m now And that’s not the job’s fault, but It’s it’s actually a worse contract. And and maybe analogous to this would be like I’m doing more radio. I’m now doing a longer show or a different show or whatever it is. I have more responsibilities. So I could see why if in fact they’re offering Terry McLaren 23 or 24 million, he would be so annoyed. But the question for you guys at 8006361067, 8006361067, if that’s true, does it change anything about how you feel? That’s the question. Yeah. I mean, to your point real quick, Joe Corey wrote that article saying the percentage that gets him to right around $30 million. So maybe you want to still go below that. That’s fine. But only going up a million or two was a little bit ridiculous.

Jeremy Fowler reported that the Commanders right now aren’t close on a deal, and the Commanders may even be lowballing star Terry McLaurin.

Share, Thumbs Up & Subscribe to 106.7 The Fan for New Content Daily!

Subscribe on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/1067TheFan
Like on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/1067thefan
Follow on Twitter: https://twitter.com/1067theFan
Follow on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/1067thefan/