Commanders insider warns crucial deadline could decide Terry McLaurin future

Terry McLaurin's future with the Washington Commanders remains under a cloud. Most fans are still expecting a successful resolution to this ongoing saga, but one team insider highlighted a critical upcoming deadline that will provide clarity.

The Commanders and McLaurin should be working towards another extension right now. That doesn't change just because the wide receiver submitted a trade request. It's the best possible solution for both pa rties, even if finding some middle ground is proving complicated.

McLaurin might feel like his position is strengthened due to the failure of other wideouts during Washington's trip to the New England Patriots, but general manager Adam Peters hasn't blinked yet. He's got a price in mind, and the front-office leader doesn't want to pay what the player's representatives are asking for.

Commanders insider pinpoints cut-down day as critical in Terry McLaurin saga

Nobody is contemplating McLaurin being moved. Things haven't reached breaking point officially, although this relationship is reportedly more frayed than people initially thought. Even so, Lynnell Willingham from 106.7 The Fan highlighted cut-down day as something to monitor regarding the former third-round pick's status.

Something he believes will tell everyone exactly what's going on if no new deal has been finalized by that point.

Cut-down day is going to tell us everything we need to know about where things stand between Washington and [Terry] McLaurin. If he has to start the season on PUP, I'm pretty sure he'll be getting to collect paychecks for the first month. And then, once you're taken off PUP, there is a 21-day window that you have to activate the guy to the 53-man roster, which is essentially three more games. That could be seven games of Terry McLaurin collecting game checks without even playing.Lynnell Willingham

This isn't the first time that Willingham has highlighted McLaurin being on the physically unable to perform list as an overlooked factor in t his equation. The wideout is supposedly dealing with an ankle injury, but fans are skeptical. All signs point to a hold-in, which stops him from getting fined $50,000 a day for skipping camp entirely.

The financial ramifications get even bigger in season, where McLaurin is collecting $850,000 per game. He's not going to completely sit out and miss that money. But if no new deal comes to fruition, staying on PUP is a realistic outcome.

There is an easy way to rectify these concerns. Peters needs to get an extension worked out. How he goes about this with bad blood brewing is anyone's guess, but it needs to happen.

And so long as McLaurin is out on the field with his teammates in Week 1 against the New York Giants, nobody will care what it took to get there.

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