What Washington Commanders WR Terry McLaurin Wants to 'Really Hone In On' This Season

ASHBURN, Va. -- The Washington Commanders have experienced a lot of changes on their roster this offseason, but a few marquee players still remain from before general manager Adam Peters and head coach Dan Quinn arrived this year.

One of them, wide receiver Terry McLaurin, worked his way from being a Day 2 NFL Draft pick to the No. 1 receiver on the Commanders roster.

But the Washington star isn't just resting on his achievements so far, and is looking to improve a very specific part of his game this offseason. And he talked about his eagerness to improve his yards after catch ability with us on Tuesday.

"It's a balance for me because I always want to protect the football. That's my number one objective when I'm carrying the ball," McLaurin said. "But at the same time, I think when you can make one guy, miss, two guys miss, and you get those extra three, four yards, those add up over the course of a game. And I think the elite receivers really do that at a high level. So that's someone I see myself being and I just think I've put some good things on film so far, but now's the time to really hone in on that for me."

Washington Commanders wide receiver Terry McLaurin. — Nov 5, 2023; Foxborough, Massachusetts, USA; Washington Commanders receiver Terry McLaurin (17) runs the ball during the second half against the New England Patriots at Gillette Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Paul Rutherford-USA TODAY Sports | Paul Rutherford-USA TODAY Sports

"I think when you can make one guy, miss, two guys miss, and you get those extra three, four yards, those add up over the course of a game. And I think the elite receivers really do that at a high level."
Terry McLaurin, Commanders WR

McLaurin notched his third-straight 1,000 yard receiving season in 2023, but gained just 7.6 yards per target last season, the lowest in his career thus far.

Part of the reason for the relatively low output was a lack of elite yards after catch (YAC) production. In 2023, McLaurin ranked 22nd in overall YAC with 350 yards, but averaged just 4.4 YAC per reception which ranked 86th.

Neither number would be considered elite, and as McLaurin said, if he is going to put himself in that conversation, he'll need to get better there.

Of course, not all of that is on the player himself. The relationship between he and his quarterback is important, but so too is the offensive coordinator's use of the star receiver.

An excess amount of dig routes, for example, will ultimately lead to low YAC naturally because it's hard to have any receiver producing a ton of post-catch yardage when they're facing the line of scrimmage with a defender crashing down on them.

Here's to not seeing as much of that in 2024.

Stick with CommanderGameday and the Locked On Commanders podcast for more coverage of the Washington Commanders throughout the 2024 season.