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Terry McLaurin's exit threat could unravel everything the Commanders built
Washington Commanders wide receiver Terry McLaurin Junfu Han / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

With Terry McLaurin’s trade request, Adam Peters is facing the first crisis of his astonishingly successful term as Washington Commanders' general manager. But it is that success that has landed him in this situation.

There was plenty of optimism when Dan Snyder’s reign of misery finally ended in 2023. But even the optimistic fans couldn’t have predicted just how well the first season under Josh Harris and Peters would turn out.

It seems that virtually every move the new general manager made struck gold. From hiring Dan Quinn to drafting Jayden Daniels to rapidly rebuilding the roster with modestly priced, quality free agents, Peters knew his job.

That acumen is being put to the test by McLaurin, and it is a direct result of just how successful Washington was in 2024.

Commanders must stay the course to figure things out with Terry McLaurin

Just because a player requests a trade, it does not mean the team must acquiesce. Often, it is a negotiating ploy, albeit something of a Hail Mary desperation move.

Earlier this offseason, Myles Garrett requested a trade. It spurred plenty of speculation about who might pony up the assets required to land the league's best defender. The Commanders were in that conversation. So were the Detroit Lions.

But, you’ll notice, Garrett is not on a new team. He remains with the Cleveland Browns, with a huge new contract. The defensive end was too good a player and meant too much to the organization for them to seriously consider trading him.

McLaurin is in the same category. If anything, though he may not be as valuable a player as Garrett, he may be even harder to trade.

Peters has gone all in on 2025. His acquisition of Deebo Samuel Sr. was the first step. Re-signing veterans like Bobby Wagner and Zach Ertz revealed more of that win-now attitude. But it was the Laremy Tunsil trade that made Washington’s motives clear.

The Commanders essentially gave up second, third, and seventh-round picks for the Pro Bowl left tackle. Giving up that much draft capital runs against the grain for Peters, who recognizes the value of building rosters through the college process.

That strategy rarely works when a poor team tries it. To win in the NFL, a team needs a complete roster. In the era of the salary cap, the best way to ensure such a roster is by building through the draft.

Trading away multiple draft picks for one veteran tends to work only when a team is already on the brink of a championship. With a pretty good roster in place, one special player can put a club over the top. Peters saw that play out in San Francisco when they added Christian McCaffery to an already stacked roster. Even there, it hasn’t paid off with a Super Bowl.

Had the Commanders improved to 9-8 last season — either sneaking into the playoffs or just missing out — Peters probably would have stayed the course. He would have concluded his roster was still a little too far away from championship level for one player like Tunsil to make a difference. And he would have continued to build through the draft.

But Daniels and the rest of the Commanders exceeded expectations last season. They made it to the NFC Championship game. They were the only team to defeat the eventual champion Philadelphia Eagles in the second half of the season. Peters rightfully concluded that this team can win right now.

Washington is in a window that won’t last long. Daniels is still on his rookie contract, far and away the best bargain in the entire league. That will change a few years down the road. The Commanders will extend him. It won’t slam the window shut, but it will make it harder for Peters to maneuver.

So he has pushed all his chips to the middle of the table to win in 2025. Trading McLaurin does not fit with those plans.

If McLaurin is in fact traded, Washington will not get a receiver in exchange who comes close to his productivity. Any team acquiring a player of the wideout's age is also looking to win right now. They are not giving up a current asset.

Washington might get a body in exchange, but not one that will make the kind of difference McLaurin makes. Not a genuine No. 1 receiver who can stretch the field. Not the kind of player who demands a defense’s attention and opens things up for every other pass catcher on the field.

What the Commanders would get is draft picks. That’s what contending teams sacrifice to get a game changer, as Washington did with Tunsil.

It’s impossible to know exactly what the package would be, but if we use D.K. Metcalf and George Pickens as guides, the Commanders would most likely get a second and a fourth-round pick at most.

That actually would be a good move for the future. But it would leave the Commanders much further away from a championship in the next season or two. And that is the course Peters has chosen to pursue.

Had the Commanders gone 9-8 last year, trading McLaurin would be a tough pill to swallow based on how much he has meant to the franchise and the fan base. But it would not have been out of the question.

However, Washington intends to win now. And they don’t win now by trading McLaurin.

That is the conundrum Peters is trying to unravel.

More Commanders news and analysis


This article first appeared on Riggo's Rag and was syndicated with permission.

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