Adam Peters' honeymoon in Washington ended on Thursday evening. While the general manager of the Commanders has deservedly been lauded for his work in rebuilding a moribund franchise and getting it all the way back to the NFC Championship Game in his first season in charge, Thursday's trade request from star wide receiver Terry McLaurin is the first real conflict of the Peters era.
While the Commanders have moved on from veterans Kendall Fuller and Jonathan Allen during Peters' two offseasons in charge, McLaurin might be the most popular holdover from the pre-Jayden Daniels days. In addition to being one of the remaining players who endured former team owner Daniel Snyder's final years with the organization, McLaurin was consistently productive despite playing with a string of quarterbacks who either didn't pan out or quickly suffered career-altering injuries.
Terry McLaurin's quarterbacks, 2019-2023 (from @pfref). And this doesn't even include Ryan Fitzpatrick's one game as the starter. pic.twitter.com/RhRwapQ7Ga
— Bill Barnwell (@billbarnwell) August 1, 2025
If there's anyone in the building who deserves the benefit of the doubt and a reward for what he has endured to get to this point, it's McLaurin, who has been regarded as a leader and positive presence in the building since he was drafted in Round 3 in 2019. And yet, after an entire offseason to negotiate, McLaurin's holdout and then hold-in after reporting to camp on July 27 haven't led to any sort of resolution, leading the two-time Pro Bowler to request a trade.
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I'll start with what's obvious: The Commanders' offense looks very different without its top wideout. I had them 13th in my playmaker rankings earlier this offseason, but that was with McLaurin as their most valuable option. Daniels posted a Total QBR of 73.8 with him on the field last season, but that fell to 63.0 across 90 dropbacks without him.
Taking McLaurin out of the lineup pushes Deebo Samuel into the top wideout role, and while Samuel can be overwhelming at his best, he has struggled with inconsistent play, drops and injuries during his career. Noah Brown and Michael Gallup, who was out of the league in 2024, would be competing for more work on the outside. Young draftees such as Luke McCaffrey and rookie Jaylin Lane would go from being depth players to potential starters. The entire wide receiver rotation would be stretched about one spot too far in the lineup, which makes sense; the Commanders built this team expecting McLaurin to be the No. 1.
Most Commanders fans want this to be resolved as quickly as possible with a new deal for McLaurin. But other teams across the league might want to get a shot at landing one of the league's best wideouts. How will all of this play out? Why is there such an impasse? What can the Commanders do to bridge that gap? And if they do decide that there's no solution, what would a trade look like? Let's hit those topics and break down the McLaurin situation.
Jump to a section:
Why both sides can't find an agreement
Four ways this situation can go without a trade
What could Washington get for him?
Three teams that make sense in a trade
What's keeping the Commanders and McLaurin from agreeing to a new deal?
Fair value and how age impacts the idea of what NFL players are worth. Teams are paying more attention to aging curves and how risky it can be to make major investments in players as they approach and pass age 30. When there has been a disconnect between a player's value and the moves teams have made in recent years, it has almost always been with well-known veterans who are ending their second contracts and looking for third deals or significant new guarantees as they near 30 years old.
That's where we are with McLaurin, who turns 30 in September. He is heading into the final year of his second contract with the Commanders, a three-year extension that was designed to get him to a third contract before turning 30. With most of the bonus money for that contract paid out in previous years, he is to make $19.9 million in 2025, $2.8 million of which was already paid in March.
Meanwhile, the Commanders have made trades this offseason to add Samuel and Laremy Tunsil to their offense. While the competitor in McLaurin must surely be excited about having talented veterans joining the organization, Peters committed $17.5 million to Samuel and $21.4 million to Tunsil as part of those deals. Tunsil is also likely to earn an extension after Peters sent significant draft capital to the Texans to acquire the franchise left tackle, one that could come before the Commanders address the McLaurin situation.
It's no surprise to the Commanders that McLaurin wants a new contract, but NFL negotiations often work off comparables, and finding common ground on those comps has made this a difficult conversation. Many of the big deals that have happened over the past 12 months at wide receiver have been for players at the end of their rookie contracts, with Ja'Marr Chase topping the market at just over $40 million per year. Justin Jefferson is at $35 million annually. Garrett Wilson, who signed his deal last month, is at $32.5 million per year, just ahead of CeeDee Lamb. All of those guys are younger than McLaurin.
There have been edge rushers at this point in their careers who match and top what younger players are getting, with the Myles Garrett and T.J. Watt contracts as examples, but that usually hasn't extended to veteran wide receivers. The exceptions were the 2022 trades for Davante Adams and Tyreek Hill, which reset the market at receiver. Those were players who had more significant pedigrees, though -- Adams was coming off three consecutive first-team All-Pro nods, and Hill had three in six seasons with the Chiefs (one coming on special teams).
McLaurin might rightfully claim that those guys were playing with much better quarterbacks than he was before Daniels arrived, but he has yet to be a first-team All-Pro or lead the league in any major receiving category. He was a second-team All-Pro for the first time last season. His calling card has been remarkable consistency, as he has racked up five consecutive 1,000-yard seasons. He has never topped 1,200 yards, however.
Instead, the comps the Commanders are looking at with regard to receivers around McLaurin's age aren't anywhere near as lucrative. Mike Evans, who owns a much longer streak of 1,000-yard campaigns, hit free agency in advance of his age-31 season in 2024 and landed only a two-year deal worth $41 million. Adjusting for the rise in the salary cap, that would be the equivalent of $22.4 million per year in 2025 money.
Calvin Ridley, who was one year younger than Evans when he hit free agency in 2024, signed with the Titans for four years and $92 million, averaging $23 million per season. Throwing out the unguaranteed portions, his contract is more realistically a two-year, $48 million pact, which would be worth $26.2 million per year in the current cap landscape. Players past their third contracts -- such as Adams ($22 million per season), Stefon Diggs ($21.2 million), and Cooper Kupp ($15 million) -- all failed to land more than Ridley in average salary this offseason, even with the cap increase. All three are 31 or older.
McLaurin's case also took a hit this week when Broncos wideout Courtland Sutton, who turns 30 in October, signed an extension in a similar price range. Sutton's deal was a four-year, $92 million pact, averaging $23 million. The full details aren't available, but it doesn't look to offer much in the way of significant long-term guarantees; according to ESPN's Adam Schefter, Sutton was guaranteed the $14 million he was already set to receive in 2025 and got $27 million more in guarantees on the extension, suggesting he is really looking at a two-year, $41 million pact. In other words, that's essentially what Evans received last year.
Evans' inability to land more money chilled the veteran wideout market. If he was able to land only $20.5 million per year, what are the chances that Sutton, a less productive player with a more significant injury history, would do better in 2026? And what are the chances McLaurin would be in position to land a deal more in line with what he wants?
Teams use this as a way to get veterans to both sign extensions and take pay cuts. When the Commanders didn't think 30-year-old swing tackle Andrew Wylie was worth the $7.8 million he was set to make in 2025, the organization gave him a choice to take a pay cut to $3.5 million or face the open market. Wylie chose the security and stability of staying in Washington and took the pay cut.
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The lone recent contract looming as a comp that might end up being meaningful for both sides belongs to the last star wide receiver who actually did get traded. The Steelers traded for DK Metcalf at the end of his second contract with the Seahawks, then gave him a four-year, $132 million extension, a deal worth $33 million per year. His contract guarantees him $60 million over the next two seasons before the Steelers have a series of unguaranteed years in 2027 and beyond.
McLaurin, who entered the league in the same draft as Metcalf, has every right to suggest he deserves the same sort of deal. Over their respective six-year spans in the league, Metcalf has 438 catches for 6,324 yards and 48 touchdowns. McLaurin has 460 catches for 6,379 yards and 38 touchdowns. Metcalf has averaged 2.02 yards per route run. McLaurin has averaged 2.01. And while Metcalf's 2020 season was the biggest individual year produced by either of these players, McLaurin has been more consistent.
The two big differences have nothing to do with their on-field production. One is age: Metcalf is more than two years younger than McLaurin, having entered the league as a 21-year-old. The other is leverage. When the Steelers decided to trade a second-round pick for Metcalf, he had the leverage to ask for a significant extension as part of that deal, since Pittsburgh wouldn't have been inclined to trade a significant pick for such a talented player and then lose him for nothing the following year in free agency.
McLaurin doesn't have that sort of leverage with the Commanders, which is why he was likely left with no other solution but to ask for a trade. If the Commanders aren't going to pay him a deal in line with what Metcalf is getting and instead want to pay him something closer to Evans and Sutton, the only way he is going to gather that leverage is to be traded and have another team price in a more significant deal.
How can the Commanders resolve this without a trade?
If there were a simple solution, both sides would have found it by now. It's usually not difficult for teams and players to overcome a small gap in negotiations, but there could be a difference of $10 million per year between Metcalf's contract and the extensions signed by Sutton and Evans. McLaurin sitting out and eventually missing regular-season games with what has been listed as an ankle injury wouldn't do either side any favors, but Commanders fans know how things can go when a player decides he wants out, with Trent Williams' absent 2019 season and eventual trade for third- and fifth-round picks as a painful memory.
If the Commanders are going to get this done without resorting to a trade, there are only a few ways it can play out. What do those look like?
1. The Commanders blink and give McLaurin what he wants. While we don't know the specifics of what he would accept, giving him the four-year, $132 million extension Metcalf signed with the Steelers would likely be enough to get a deal done. Metcalf had $18 million remaining on his pact with the Seahawks, so he got $42 million in new guarantees between 2025 and 2026. The Commanders probably would have to do the same. While I'm sure McLaurin and his camp would like some guarantees into Year 3 of a potential extension, I'm not sure that's realistic.
It might seem like McLaurin will just be this player forever in the same way that Evans has been, but it's only realistic for the Commanders to be concerned about what happens next. Adams was an All-Pro in his first season with the Raiders and then saw his numbers decline. Julio Jones led the league in receiving yards at 29 and signed a three-year, $66 million extension in 2019. By the time that extension started, the Falcons had dealt Jones to the Titans for a second-round pick; after a 1,394-yard season at age 30, he racked up just 1,578 yards over his next four seasons combined before retiring. Allen Robinson had 1,250 yards with Mitch Trubisky and Nick Foles at quarterback in his age-27 season and just 1,059 yards over his next four seasons combined, which included a significant third contract with the Rams.
I don't expect McLaurin to fall off, but one of the reasons teams are hesitant to hand out significant contracts to wideouts in this age range is the potential for what can sometimes be a very sudden drop-off.
2. McLaurin blinks and plays out the final year of his deal. He would be in position to become an unrestricted free agent entering his age-31 season, which would be about the same age as Evans and a year older than Ridley when they hit free agency in 2024. Even with a productive year, the best-case scenario for him would likely be something like the contract Adams inked with the Rams a few months ago, which was a two-year, $44-million pact with one year and $26 million guaranteed. Even with a rise in the salary cap coming again in 2026, it would be a surprise if McLaurin landed more than $25 million per year in free agency entering his age-31 season.
And obviously, there's major downside if McLaurin has a disappointing season. He could get injured. Daniels could get injured, which could impact his numbers. His 13 touchdowns in 2024, an outlier for a player who had averaged five receiving scores annually before 2024, could regress toward his career rates. Or he could just see a smaller target share with the addition of Samuel, giving the Commanders the legitimate second wideout they didn't have in the offense a year ago.
If McLaurin does excel, the Commanders might have to use the franchise tag to keep him around in 2026. At the moment, that projects to come in around $28.1 million, which would still be below the figures he would likely hope to be guaranteed in 2026 as part of a new deal. That number also matters in negotiations, since it limits what the Commanders would have to pay if they do decide to go year-to-year with him.
3. They compromise on a new contract. The best thing for both sides would be to get a deal done. The Commanders need McLaurin and don't want to essentially waste a year of Daniels' rookie contract without a viable top wideout for him. McLaurin's best chance of getting a meaningful guarantee on a third contract is this offseason, not next. The clock is ticking for both sides.
For that to happen, both sides need to give some on their demands. The Commanders probably aren't going to get McLaurin signed for what the Broncos gave Sutton, which sounds like it's going to be about $41 million over two years, although it could come in higher after we get the exact terms. And McLaurin probably isn't going to get what the Steelers gave Metcalf in terms of actual guaranteed money, which was $60 million over two years.
Splitting the difference between those figures is $50.5 million over the next two seasons. That's just short of two franchise tags, given that the 2025 tag for wideouts is just under $24 million, while the 2026 tag projects to the $28.1 million figure I mentioned. McLaurin has already made $2.8 million from a March roster bonus, so the Commanders would be on the hook for about $49 million more between 2025 and 2026. With him currently set to make a $15.5 million base salary in 2025, they could up that to $20.5 million in 2025 compensation and add $28.5 million in 2026 in what amounts to a de facto franchise tag in advance.
Meanwhile, McLaurin could win the public side of the disagreement by getting a four-year, $136 million extension, topping what Metcalf got in his deal with the Steelers on paper. Most of that money, though, would be nonguaranteed and come after the 2026 season. In return, they would settle for about $52 million in guaranteed money over the next two years, $8 million short of what Metcalf landed from the Steelers. That might not sound ideal, but two franchise tags would be a great outcome for McLaurin given that he is guaranteed only $15.5 million right now.
4. The Commanders sweeten the deal. In the past, teams have pacified players who want new contracts by moving money from future seasons into the current year. When Jones wanted a new deal with three years left to go on his existing pact in 2018, as an example, the Falcons took $2 million out of his 2019 salary and gave it to their star wideout a year in advance while promising him they would agree to terms on a new deal after the season.
Well, McLaurin is in the final year of his existing contract. (While he is technically on the Commanders' books next year, that's just for accounting purposes, as his deal voids before the 2026 offseason begins, with $5.6 million in dead money left on Washington's cap.) The Commanders would have to restructure his existing deal to add more money, but if they wanted to do so, they could add, say, $3 million to that $15.5 million base salary, guarantee that whole amount for 2025, and then table the discussion about what happens in 2026 until after the season.
Between the four scenarios I laid out, this is the most likely one. If there really is a significant divide between the two sides on a contract extension, the easiest way for McLaurin to save face and the organization to seem like it is rewarding one of its longest-tenured players and a fan favorite is to throw a little extra money his way. If this happens, the organization will say that it is guaranteeing him $18.5 million, even though he was already going to have $15.5 million of that figure guaranteed when he was on the roster for Week 1, which means it's really just $3 million in new money.
If the two sides just can't find any sort of common ground and McLaurin digs in further, let's talk about the scenario Commanders fans don't want to see ...
What can the Commanders get if they trade McLaurin?
Realistically, I don't think there's a strong chance McLaurin gets traded. There's been no suggestion from the Commanders' side that they're looking to deal him, even after his request. Trading him now would likely result in landing 2026 draft picks, which won't help the Commanders in a season in which they're hoping to compete. And there just aren't many teams with the cap space or cash budget at this point of the offseason to give him the sort of deal he appears to want.
When I put together my recent trade tiers piece, I didn't have McLaurin landing a first-round pick in a potential deal. Commanders fans might feel like anything short of that would be a major disappointment, but the reality is we just don't see players without multiple All-Pro appearances and/or a viable case as the best player at their position dealt for first-round picks as they approach 30, with quarterbacks as the lone exception.
Timed just before the season, and with the acquiring team either renting McLaurin on a one-year deal or giving him a significant extension, the Commanders would likely be looking at a third-round pick and a potential Day 3 selection if they actually did trade him. The Browns got a third-round pick and a swap of late selections from the Bills for a 30-year-old Amari Cooper for the remainder of the season last October, and that was during the season, when teams get a little more desperate. I wouldn't be stunned if Washington were able to land a second-round pick, but a first-rounder would be truly shocking.
And of course, if the return is going to be only a third-round pick and a little more, the Commanders aren't really incentivized to deal McLaurin. Even if they don't want to do any sort of long-term contract with him, they're probably better off having him on the roster for one more season while hoping to land a compensatory pick for him in free agency next offseason. Stranger things have happened, though. And if things do go south for the Commanders early in the offseason, I could see a scenario in which he becomes available at the trade deadline, as Cooper was a year ago.
Which teams would realistically consider trading for McLaurin?
When I went around the league, I was surprised at how many teams weren't great fits for McLaurin. Teams with one expensive wideout contract probably can't justify spending this much money on another. Many offenses are locked into two starting wide receivers as the season approaches. Some teams just don't have a situation that would really benefit from adding a 29-year-old wide receiver, even one as talented as McLaurin. Others don't typically make moves for players who are at this point of their careers.
It's easy to plug McLaurin in as a fit for lots of teams, but it's also easy to poke holes in those plans. The Chiefs are committed to Rashee Rice and Xavier Worthy as their two top receivers. The Packers don't want to trade away draft picks or target players who are approaching 30. The Jets are shifting toward a run-heavy attack with Justin Fields at quarterback. The Texans are paying Christian Kirk and Nico Collins and just used two Day 2 picks on wide receivers.
There are three teams that make sense:
The Indianapolis Colts don't typically make major investments in players from outside the organization, but they did trade a first-round pick for defensive tackle DeForest Buckner in 2020. General manager Chris Ballard places a major emphasis on team culture and players being the right fit for their building, a bar McLaurin should be able to meet. And with Anthony Richardson entering his third season, the Colts need to do everything in their power to give their embattled quarterback the best chance of developing into a solid passer over the next six months.
The Colts already have three starting wideouts in Michael Pittman Jr., Josh Downs and Alec Pierce, but that might be appealing to the Commanders as part of a potential trade. Pierce isn't as complete of a receiver as McLaurin, but we've seen teams pay premiums for speed with Dyami Brown and Tutu Atwell this offseason, and he could be part of the rotation that replaces McLaurin. It's unlikely, but with the Colts going heavy into free agency for defenders Charvarius Ward and Cam Bynum this offseason, they are clearly comfortable being more aggressive importing talent than in previous years.
Another team trying to prop up its third-year quarterback is the Carolina Panthers, and while they used their first-round pick on wideout Tetairoa McMillan this spring, he is the only receiver guaranteed a spot in the starting lineup on a weekly basis. First-round pick Xavier Legette failed to impress as a rookie last season, David Moore is a situational player, and Jalen Coker has reportedly been outshone by Hunter Renfrow in camp out of the slot.
Could the Panthers justify trading for McLaurin? It would allow them to move McMillan all around the field instead of simply locking him as the "X" receiver in the offense, while giving Bryce Young one of the more exciting one-two punches at wideout in the league. And while veteran Adam Thielen obviously wouldn't be the focal point of the return, he fits right in alongside Zach Ertz and Bobby Wagner as Washington's veterans who still have something to offer and might exceed expectations in the right role. Again, it seems more likely the Panthers will just stick with McMillan as their top outside receiver and sort through their internal options at this point of the offseason.
The competitive team that seems like the most plausible fit is the Buffalo Bills. General manager Brandon Beane has repeatedly traded for wideouts to aid Josh Allen, including the first-round pick he dealt for Stefon Diggs in 2020 and the third-rounder he sent to the Browns as the primary piece to acquire Cooper for the remainder of last season. The Bills might have considered an extension for Cooper if he had impressed, but he hit free agency and remains there.
McLaurin would step in as a legitimate top wideout in an offense that leans heavily toward the pass. The Bills have assembled a variety of options for Allen, and they understandably aren't ready to give up on Dalton Kincaid and Keon Coleman, but there's a reason they traded for Cooper last fall. There's nobody on this roster Allen can look toward in key spots as someone who is reliably going to get open. And as we saw in that fateful fourth down in the playoff loss to the Chiefs, there's nobody in this receiving corps whom Kansas City defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo was scared about covering, which allowed the blitz whisperer to send top cornerback Trent McDuffie after Allen on what ended up creating a season-ending pressure for Buffalo.
And yet, even for the Bills, this would be a tough fit. Khalil Shakir is a good slot receiver, and Beane signed Joshua Palmer to play meaningful snaps as a de facto replacement for Mack Hollins. McLaurin would likely take opportunities away from Coleman, a move the Bills are unlikely to make after just one season with their 2024 second-round pick. Buffalo is slightly over the 2025 salary cap, so it's already in a tight financial squeeze, even without having addressed a new deal for running back James Cook. And having essentially burned a third-round pick on Cooper a year ago, I'm not sure Beane wants to take that plunge again for what might be another one-year contract.
The logical thing is for McLaurin to stay with the Commanders, for the two sides to come to terms on a new deal or some sort of raise, and for Daniels to have his best pass catcher on the field in Week 1. It's still the most likely scenario. After a holdout, hold-in and now a trade request, though, it's clear there's a real disconnect between the Commanders and one of their most important and beloved players. Now it's on Peters to find a solution that keeps both his top wide receiver and his fan base happy.