Commanders fans receive hopeful Terry McLaurin update

Washington Commanders quarterback Jayden Daniels has suggested on multiple occasions that he is "one hundred percent" confident he will "be throwing some passes to" wide receiver Terry McLaurin during the 2025 season.

It seems Daniels may have had some inside information.

NFL insider Albert Breer of Sports Illustrated revealed Friday that the situation involving the Commanders and McLaurin "is in a better spot than it’s been" since the 29-year-old requested a trade on July 31.

"The sides started out pretty far apart," wrote Breer, "so there was a lot of ground to make up. Maybe the deadlines in the next couple of weeks will help push an agreement through."

The "pretty far apart" line may be referencing a previous report that claimed "one person with knowledge of McLaurin’s contract negotiations" said he had "asked for more than" the average annual value attached to DK Metcalf's five-year, $150M deal with the Pittsburgh Steelers. That same story insinuated that Washington may be more comfortable paying McLaurin around $27M or $28M per season via a multiyear extension. 

Coming off their trip to this year's NFC Championship Game, the Commanders likely won't be trading McLaurin's rights anytime soon. At this point, Washington acquiring a suitable replacement for McLaurin and getting him familiar with the team's offense in time for the Commanders' Week 1 game against the New York Giants is unrealistic.

For an article published on Aug. 18, ESPN's Ben Solak wrote that he believed the McLaurin-Commanders standoff would eventually end "with a compromise extension before Week 1." 

It's unclear what McLaurin will do if this does not occur before the Giants matchup on Sept. 7, but it sounds like the two sides could work something out.