ASHBURN, Va. — Terry McLaurin has played more than 5,500 snaps in 100 NFL games, with 12 starting quarterbacks, four offensive coordinators and three head coaches. And yet he’s never experienced anything like this.
For the first time in his career, the Commanders’ star receiver missed consecutive games because of an injury, a period he described as “a challenging stretch” that was complicated by his summer-long absence.
“It’s tough,” he said Friday in his first comments since he suffered a quad injury last month. “Adversity, I’ve had that in my life. I think what was unique was having those situations happen back to back. So there was kind of like, just you’re up and down a lot. And I’ve tried not to ride the waves of the emotions.”
The 30-year-old receiver, who is expected to return against the Chiefs in Kansas City on Monday night, was sidelined for Washington’s past four games — a win and three losses. He laid out for a 56-yard catch in the third quarter of Washington’s Week 3 win over the Raiders, and didn’t return. Before this season, McLaurin had missed only three games in his pro career, the last of which was in 2020. He’d never been out for back-to-back games.
And he’s never experienced a year quite like this one. His injury was bookended by complicating circumstances: He skipped much of the offseason and held out of training camp because of a contract stalemate, which was resolved less than two weeks before the season opener. His limited ramp-up was followed by a quick turnaround, with a Week 2 game on a Thursday night.
In his three games before the injury, McLaurin caught 10 of 17 targets for 149 yards. Only one of those catches — the one on which he was injured — resulted in an explosive play of 16 yards or more. He’s yet to get his first touchdown of the season.
The physical start-and-stop was a challenge, but the notion of potentially facing an increased risk of injury early in the season was not in the back of his mind.
“Nah, it really wasn’t,” he said. “I was feeling really good when I got back out there on the field. I think what was kind of tough was the quick turnaround because I feel there’s practice and camp shape, and there’s game shape. And obviously I missed camp with the contract thing, but I came in feeling really good. I wasn’t restricted at all. I think what’s challenging was having that quick turnaround with Game 1 and then Game 2. I kind of felt the stress on my body a little bit … and when I got hurt it was just a unique situation to where I was running away from (the defender).”
The mental roller coaster of the last 10 months, however, was at times difficult, McLaurin admitted.
“I definitely had some tough days where you’re just kind of like, ‘Dang, this sucks,’” he said. “… I’ve had a lot of great talks with my teammates and coaches, and (Washington coach Dan Quinn) supported me a lot, my wife has supported me day in, day out, my friends. … I’m just looking forward to being back out there. I think I sometimes get ahead of myself and have these expectations or have this view of how I want things to go, and sometimes life doesn’t work out that way.”
The Commanders finished last season 12-5 and made it to the NFC Championship Game with McLaurin starring alongside quarterback Jayden Daniels. McLaurin was the recipient of Daniels’ season-altering 27-yard game-sealing touchdown pass in their Week 3 win over the Bengals last year. McLaurin also caught his 13th touchdown in the final seconds of the regular-season finale in Dallas to give Washington the sixth seed in the NFC, moving him atop the franchise’s record books for the most receiving TDs in a season.
But then the contracts talks turned sour. And then all was briefly good — until it wasn’t.
McLaurin has yet to score a touchdown this season. (Cooper Neill / Getty Images)
McLaurin said there were times earlier in his recovery when he felt like he was close to getting back out on the field (Quinn said as much ahead of the team’s loss in Dallas last week). But he said it wasn’t until earlier this week, when he ran routes on the practice field, that McLaurin felt himself again.
“I’m an explosive athlete, so a lot of things that are a part of my game I need to feel that are 100 percent before I can put myself out there, because (otherwise) I’m not only hurting the team, but I’m hurting myself,” he said. “So that’s part of it as well, being able to accelerate and run by people and slam on the brakes. That’s my game. So, my injury hindered a lot of that, but I feel really good right now.”
He added: “I think if there’s one thing that you kind of got to keep in mind during the rehab process, like, it’s a very controlled environment, which is great for anybody that’s hurt. But when you go out there and the guardrails are off, you know there’s a lot of unexpected things that can happen. And so, to be able to just be myself without any hindrance and pain is extremely important.”
The Commanders have dealt with a string of injuries across the roster, but the loss of McLaurin was especially difficult for an offense that wasn’t deep at receiver to start. Washington acquired Deebo Samuel in a trade and re-signed Noah Brown, their No. 2 wideout last season.
But the team got an early glimpse at what life would be like without No. 1 or No. 2 over the summer. As McLaurin went through contract talks, Brown suffered a knee injury during minicamp in June and was sidelined for almost the entirety of training camp. He’s now on injured reserve because of the groin injury he suffered in Week 2 against the Packers.
Their absences afforded Samuel extra reps to build a rapport with Daniels, and in the early going, it clearly paid off; their timing was seemingly flawless.
But Samuel didn’t play a full season in his six previous years with the San Francisco 49ers. When McLaurin was out, his average snap percentage increased from 69.5 percent of the offense over the first three games, to 78.8 percent from Week 3 to Week 6. He did not play last weekend in Dallas because of a nagging heel injury.
The injuries have not only created a talent drain for the Commanders’ offense, but they’ve also prompted opposing defenses to attack Washington differently.
“Terry is such a big loss,” said former Washington and Kansas City quarterback Alex Smith, who is now an NFL analyst for ESPN. “… The guys (Daniels) has been playing with on the outside, I’ve actually been so impressed with what they’ve done, especially the last few weeks. But they’re really hamstrung, so defenses are really saying, ‘If we can load the box, we can play these guys one-on-one. We can really put an extra hat in the run game and we can put a hat down here for Jayden and his legs.’ And I think that you’ve seen that the last couple weeks.”
In the first three weeks, with McLaurin starting, the Commanders faced man coverage on 20.1 percent of their plays and a heavy box on 50 percent of plays.
Over the last four weeks, with McLaurin and Brown both out, the Commanders faced man coverage on 29.1 percent of snaps and a heavy box on 56.5 percent of plays. Against the Cowboys in Week 7, when Washington was without its top three receivers, the Commanders faced man coverage on 46.9 percent of their snaps.
With the potential return of both McLaurin and Samuel on Monday night, the question now is how quickly they can regain their connection with Marcus Mariota, who will start in place of Daniels. Will their timing be on point, or will the Commanders’ roller coaster continue?
“Ironically, the last time I was in, Marcus was in and now that I’m back in, Marcus is in,” McLaurin said. “So there’s a familiarity there. Obviously, you still got to get the timing down, and I think that’s what we’re working through this week is just the timing of the routes. I feel comfortable with both (Daniels and Mariota), really, but I just think it’s the reps that you get on the field that are really going to help you to execute.”
