Former Buckeyes Standout Named “Breakout Candidate” Despite Two Pro Bowls on His Résumé

The Ohio State Buckeyes dominance at the NFL level at the wide receiver position hasn’t been limited to first-round talent.

Michael Thomas crushed the league a little less than a decade ago after being taken in the second round, and Terry McLaurin has been the top wideout for the Washington Commanders since being selected in the third round, back in 2019, staving off the competition on a yearly basis.

Yet, in McLaurin’s case, it seems some don’t realize what he’s been able to accomplish, despite an unstable situation at quarterback during his time in Washington, one that may very well be finally solved now with Jayden Daniels.

ESPN’s Ben Solak singled McLaurin out as a breakout candidate for the 2026 season in Washington, when discussing one name for each franchise a couple of days ago.

Can a wide receiver with five consecutive 1,000-yard receiving seasons and two Pro Bowl nods after seven years in the league?

According to Solak, “He is very clearly good, and everyone knows this. So how can McLaurin break out? By posting a career year. His first season with over 100 receptions.”

The problem here is no matter how cool it looks, 100 is still an arbitrary number, just like 1,000 when used for receiving or rushing yards. Having McLaurin cross that number or not doesn’t really mean anything when his production is visualized in the context of the Commanders’ offense. And there’s no question, McLaurin is the undisputed leader of the offense, among skill position players.

As a matter of fact, McLaurin (6,961) is already ranked fifth all-time on Washington’s career receiving yard list, standing only behind Hall of Famers Art Monk (12,026) and Charley Taylor (9,110), Gary Clark (8,742) and Santana Moss (7,867). And, he doesn’t even need another 1,000 yard-season -- talking about neatly rounded numbers -- to overtake Moss for fourth, which should happen as early as this year.

So, he's not just good. He's historically good, when it comes to the Washington franchise.

Again, can a Top-5 franchise receiver be considered a breakout candidate, just because he hasn’t hit an arbitrary number of catches?

Terry McLaurin is no stranger to being overlooked

Playing at Cathedral High School in Indianapolis, McLaurin was just a three-star recruit with initial offers from Bowling Green, Purdue and Toledo after his junior year. He was able then to secure scholarship offers from Boston College, Indiana, Iowa, Missouri, and ultimately, Ohio State, his preferred destination from Day 1. The Buckeyes offer arrived after McLaurin participated in a couple of camps at Ohio State, where he succeeded in getting noticed by then head coach Urban Meyer’s staff.

During his four years at Ohio State, he always seemed to be overshadowed by someone else, from Thomas to Curtis Samuel to K.J. Hill to Parris Campbell, but McLaurin managed to get noticed by pro scouts by improving every single year on campus, culminating with a conference leading 20.0 yard per reception average in 2018.

In Washington, though, the story has been different, with McLaurin leading the way in six of the seven seasons he’s played for the team, even outperforming his college teammate Samuel from 2021 to 2023 in Washington. He came in third last year in catches and second in receiving yards after only playing 10 games due to a nagging quad injury that limited him to just 10 contests, but he should be at full speed in 2026.

But make no mistake. If McLaurin reaches the 100 catch mark, it won’t be a breakout season. It’ll just be McLaurin doing what he does best, what he’s done since he arrived in Columbus: get better and better with time.

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