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Terry McLaurin will (probably) not be a Patriot.
There was a lot of blame to go around when it came to the 5-12 nightmare season the Washington Commanders just went through.
One player who was able to avoid much of the public-facing blame was NFL All-Pro wide receiver Terry McLaurin, who rightfully held out to get the money he was worth but ended up missing the entire preseason and almost all of training camp before he signed a 3-year, $97 million contract extension.
Media types and fans blamed the Commanders front office for not doing what everyone knew they were going to have to do anyway — pay McLaurin — who couldn’t shake off the rust following all that time off and had the worst season of his pro career in 2025.
While the blame from the outside didn’t fall on McLaurin, it’s not a stretch to think it’s caused bad blood in the executive suite, where general manager Adam Peters was made to look the fool over how he handled messy negotiations with his team’s star receiver.
If you didn’t know, these executive types have long memories. And combined with his low production, McLaurin’s holdout won’t likely be forgotten soon. Combine those 2 things, and it equals why NFL insider Matthew Berry predicts 2026 will be the last season for McLaurin with the Commanders.
“The (Commanders) will look to add to the wide receiver room with an emphasis on speed and don’t be surprised if 2026 is Terry McLaurin’s last year with the team,” Berry wrote on Monday. “To that end, one source told me that while almost everyone expects Washington to go defense in the first round this year, if the top three edge guys are all gone by No. 7, don’t be surprised if the Commanders take (Ohio State wide receiver) Carnell Tate.”
Terry McLaurin Called ‘Most Disappointing Player’
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.”
Called Out For Not Practicing Late in Season
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 previous 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 as one of the seemingly million little weird or wrong things about 2025 as the Commanders went 5-12 and were eliminated from the postseason by Week 14.
“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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