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Washington Commanders wide receiver Terry McLaurin.
The biggest storyline for the Washington Commanders headed into the 2025 season wasn’t what it should have been — that the moribund franchise had somehow turned themselves into Super Bowl contenders after just one season with first-year head coach Dan Quinn and rookie quarterback Jayden Daniels.
Instead, the seemingly inane contract battle between NFL All-Pro wide receiver Terry McLaurin and management stole all the headlines.
McLaurin, who still had one year left on his contract, held out and was away from his team for the entire offseason and almost all of the preseason.
It didn’t make sense because the Commanders were in no position to negotiate — without McLaurin their season was absolutely cooked. In no universe was he not going to get what he wanted eventually, which ended up being a 3-year, $97 million contract extension.
The Commanders didn’t finally cave until August 25, losing an entire offseason of working with Daniels and joining his team just a few weeks before the regular season began.
That rust showed and the Commanders suffered, going from 12-5 in the 2024 regular season to 5-12 in the 2025 regular season and becoming a laughingstock around the NFL.
The rub? Nobody on the roster — nobody — disappointed more than McLaurin.
McLaurin ‘Most Disappointing Player’ on Roster
Commanders Wire’s Ivan Lambert put McLaurin on blast in his 2025 season postmortem, calling the highly-paid veteran the “Most Disappointing Player” on the roster after he missed a career-high 7 games due to injuries and had career lows of 38 receptions for 582 yards and 3 touchdowns.
“(McLaurin) wasn’t in touch with reality, asked for entirely too much money, then called a press conference to make the Commanders look like the bad guys,” Lambert wrote. “He was holding out, then holding in, and as a result, he wasn’t ready for the season, finishing with only 38 receptions and three touchdowns.”
Week 15 Game vs. Giants Had Revealing Detail
One prime example of how poorly the Commanders were run in 2025 — and the ensuing misery — could be found in the injury report ahead of the Week 15 game against the equally miserable New York Giants.
There was some brief confusion as to why McLaurin, who had played in the last 2 games, wasn’t even at practice. Which would seem to indicate he wasn’t playing against the Giants. Which was not the case.
It was just a pre-scheduled rest day for McLaurin, who had already missed 7 games due to injury. It wasn’t a normal occurrence and it didn’t go unnoticed. Mainly because McLaurin’s non-participation in the offseason and preseason just seemed to extend into the regular season and was one of the biggest reasons the season went off the rails.
Daniels also missed 10 games due to injury, and offensive coordinator Kliff Kinigsbury was fired shortly after the end of the regular season.
“Terry McLaurin & Noah Brown both had a planned day off today,” 106.7-FM The Fan’s Grant Paulsen wrote on X. “Deebo Samuel was sick. Next year, it’d be great to see Commanders have fewer of those. A healthier team will lead to that. Also, getting younger is a key to this. Tons of vet days have kept them from having full, regular practices.”
Tony Adame covers the NFL for Heavy.com, with a focus on the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Washington Commanders, Dallas Cowboys, Baltimore Ravens, Philadelphia Eagles and Denver Broncos. A veteran sports writer and editor since 2004, his work has been featured at Stadium Talk, Yardbarker, NW Florida Daily News and Pensacola News Journal. More about Tony Adame
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