'Respect': Washington WR Terry McLaurin's Next Goal

"Most top receivers have another guy or another two guys outside of them," McLaurin said, "and that helps everybody."

The development of Terry McLaurin and the development of the Washington Football Team's offense may just be happening simultaneously.

A major goal - besides lots of touchdowns, of course?

Respect.

"We gotta come out here and make people respect that we have these weapons on the outside," McLaurin said.

Washington has recognized an issue and thrown bodies at it. The WFT defense coming off of 2020 was stellar; it's offense, not so much.

So coach Ron Rivera made it a top priority to upgrade the skill-position people who will be working with McLaurin and holdover running back Antonio Gibson.

And along come receivers Curtis Samuel, Dyami Brown and Adam Humphries, and QB Ryan Fitzpatrick. All together, we assume the WFT will be more dynamic. Privately, we know the coaching staff feels that way, too - and is prepared to game-plan in that direction.

"It's not going to necessarily allow those teams to play with the safety on the hash," McLaurin said (via the Washington team site), "and those double coverages I was seeing a lot last year."

We already know how the Washington Football Team's standout receiver is regarded around the league; PFN recently released a portion of their top 100 players list, and "smooth operator'' McLaurin came in at No. 90.

"McLaurin was so good, so quickly at the NFL level that he had people fighting over what his nickname would be.The speedster from Ohio State didn’t have the production coming out, and he was an older prospect, so his ascension into the NFL Top 100 list for 2021 might be surprising to some. Although, with how well we’ve seen him play in his first two seasons, it’s impossible not to be a fan of his play.''

This year, though, it won't just be about watching McLaurin.

READ MORE: Is Theismann Confident in Washington QB Fitzpatrick?

It's about watching all of them - and opposing defenses' challenges in keeping up.

"Most top receivers have another guy or another two guys outside of them," McLaurin said, "and that helps everybody."

It helps with scoring. It helps with wins. It helps with respect.

READ MORE: The 5: WFT's Most Important Games