Terry McLaurin isn’t the longest-tenured Washington Commander, but he’s close. Only Tress Way, Jonathan Allen and Daron Payne have been with the franchise longer than McLaurin.
However, given the number of quarterbacks McLaurin has caught passes from (11) and the different offensive schemes he’s played in, it feels like he’s been around a lot longer.
Through it all, McLaurin has said the right things. He’s always smiled, handled everything with class, and been a model teammate. If you need a blueprint on how to handle adversity as an athlete, McLaurin is your guy.
Last season was a low point for McLaurin and everyone on the team. The Commanders went 4-13 and finally hit rock bottom under former coach Ron Rivera.
In January, new owner Josh Harris made significant changes, first, by bringing in new general manager Adam Peters. Harris and Peters then hired former Falcons head coach and Cowboys defensive coordinator Dan Quinn as Washington’s coach.
McLaurin has seen plenty of changes before and is always on board. But this time, he believes the change is real.
“I’ve experienced a lot in my going on six years here, and I could just at least speak to just this year,” McLaurin said. “And I feel like the continuity from the top down is very clear, and what the objective is, bringing in good people who are really good at their job and are gonna be competitors in what they do and bring their best selves to the building each and every day.”
McLaurin praised Washington’s new leadership.
“I think that started from Mr. Harris and the ownership group, and I think that goes down to AP and DQ and our coordinators, the leaders on this team, and our position coaches. So, when you have that one voice, that one mission, I think it makes it very clear what the expectation is. And there’s not a lot of deviation from that because if you wanna be a part of this team, this organization, you have to fit that mold, or you probably won’t be here. But I think the great thing about it is there’s no favoritism…………..I think you can feel that juice, and then when you have that opportunity to just come out and compete, that’s what you love to do.”
McLaurin has seen a lot during his time in the NFL. It sounds like he finally believes the Commanders are turning the corner.
