{"id":198145,"date":"2025-07-11T06:54:11","date_gmt":"2025-07-11T06:54:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/198145\/"},"modified":"2025-07-11T06:54:11","modified_gmt":"2025-07-11T06:54:11","slug":"terry-mclaurin-trade-would-stupidly-redefine-commanders-super-bowl-goal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/198145\/","title":{"rendered":"Terry McLaurin Trade Would Stupidly Redefine Commanders’ Super Bowl Goal"},"content":{"rendered":"

Terry McLaurin Trade Would Stupidly Redefine Commanders’ Super Bowl Goal<\/a> originally appeared on Athlon Sports<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The\u00a0Washington Commanders<\/a>\u00a0have done a good job of appreciating the gift they\u2019ve been given in quarterback\u00a0Jayden Daniels<\/a>. General manager Adam Peters has met the moment by adding tackle Laremy Tunsil and receiver Deebo Samuel, among others, to a team that was a win away from the Super Bowl in 2024.<\/p>\n

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However, as receiver Terry McLaurin\u2019s contract negotiations continue to stall, some have grown worried about his potential departure. Speculation, subsequently, has run rampant, sending McLaurin to several contenders.<\/p>\n

One such proposal from\u00a0Bleacher Report<\/a>\u00a0sent McLaurin and a third-round pick to the Los Angeles Chargers for receiver Quentin Johnston, a second-round pick and a fourth-round pick in the 2026 NFL Draft.<\/p>\n

Simply put, a McLaurin trade would redefine the Commanders\u2019 offseason.<\/p>\n

Boldly put, it would be nothing shy of stupid.<\/p>\n

\u201cMcLaurin would walk into L.A. as Herbert’s top perimeter target and would instantly elevate the passing game,\u201d Kristopher Knox wrote. \u201cFor a team looking to leapfrog the Kansas City Chiefs in the AFC West and make a deep postseason push, that would be huge.”<\/p>\n

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\u201cAnd like the Cardinals ($40.9 million), the Chargers should have the cap space ($27.9 million) needed to work out a long-term extension with McLaurin.\u201d<\/p>\n

The crux of this speculation revolves around an extension McLaurin has yet to sign. With five consecutive 1,000-yard seasons to his name, McLaurin has earned the right to be paid like a top receiver. Anything less from Washington\u2019s part would feel like malpractice.<\/p>\n

McLaurin has endured some of the darkest seasons in franchise history and came out on the other side, thriving with a franchise quarterback. The Commanders\u2019 cap is healthy enough to hand out an extension, and he plays an integral role on the boundary in this offense.<\/p>\n

Samuel was an aggressive addition that deserves to be praised, but nobody is suggesting he\u2019s without risk. Is Washington truly willing to enter the year with Samuel as its leading receiver?<\/p>\n

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\u201cLos Angeles could send Johnston to Washington in the deal,\u201d Knox wrote. \u201cWhile the TCU product hasn’t played up to his draft status yet (1,142 yards in two seasons), he has intriguing upside, is only 23 years old and is starting to adapt to the NFL game.”<\/p>\n

\u201cWith up to three years left on Johnston’s rookie contract\u2014including the fifth-year option\u2014he could be valuable enough for Washington to justify a Day-2 pick swap instead of an outright second-rounder.\u201d<\/p>\n

Johnston took a step forward in 2024. Still, he\u2019s yet to fulfill his promise and wouldn\u2019t be getting some significant jump under center that other receivers could pin their hopes on. The Commanders would instantly have the worst receiving corps in the division, and possibly the worst among all Super Bowl contenders.<\/p>\n

Doing so for the right to move up on Day 2 (while still giving up draft capital) would set Washington back to square one. It would take away a superstar quarterback\u2019s best weapon for a marginal increase in draft capital and stunt an offseason\u2019s worth of progress.<\/p>\n

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Getting an extension signed should be\u00a0Washington\u2019s<\/a>\u00a0top priority. If the trade offers aren\u2019t wildly favorable, it would be more worthwhile to let McLaurin compete for a Super Bowl and deal with the consequences later.<\/p>\n

This story was originally reported by Athlon Sports<\/a> on Jul 11, 2025, where it first appeared.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Terry McLaurin Trade Would Stupidly Redefine Commanders’ Super Bowl Goal originally appeared on Athlon Sports. The\u00a0Washington Commanders\u00a0have done…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":198146,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2069],"tags":[427,1705,7,734,110,594,262,6,9277,505,7186,855,111,2480],"class_list":{"0":"post-198145","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-washington-commanders","8":"tag-commanders","9":"tag-deebo-samuel","10":"tag-football","11":"tag-jayden-daniels","12":"tag-kansas-city-chiefs","13":"tag-laremy-tunsil","14":"tag-los-angeles-chargers","15":"tag-nfl","16":"tag-quentin-johnston","17":"tag-super-bowl","18":"tag-terry-mclaurin","19":"tag-washington","20":"tag-washington-commanders","21":"tag-washingtoncommanders"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/114833291094143435","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/198145","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=198145"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/198145\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/198146"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=198145"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=198145"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=198145"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}