On Thursday afternoon, Washington Commanders wide receiver Terry McLaurin requested a trade. On Friday morning, McLaurin was named No. 52 on the NFL’s top 100 players.
This is Adam Peters’ first real conflict as a general manager. McLaurin is a holdover from the previous regime. He initially held out, before reporting to camp, before ultimately asking the Commanders for a trade.
If you’re McLaurin, the numbers speak for themselves. He was Jayden Daniels’ most valuable weapon last season. Daniels’ QBR dropped over ten points without McLaurin. Washington without McLaurin this season means former San Francisco 49ers wideout Deebo Samuel is their new No. 1.
That’s already two 49ers connections.
So, why would McLaurin want out? Teams are increasingly hesitant to give contracts to players approaching 30. McLaurin turns 30 in September. Peters has already committed $17.5 million to Deebo. Doubling down on another aging wideout doesn’t sound like Peters’ style.
There are a few outcomes that could happen here. Washington could simply play McLaurin what he wants and trade him. The Commanders could also make him play out his final year. Lastly, both sides could find a middle ground and agree to a new contract.
What a potential McLaurin trade would look like
It feels like a long shot for McLaurin to get dealt. After what Washington went through last season, trading away your top weapon in Year 2 of your franchise quarterback’s development goes against everything logical.
Since we’re beyond the draft, Washington would likely have to settle for a combination of Day 3 picks, given McLaurin’s contract, age, and little leverage. Peters would essentially need to be “over” any McLaurin saga. Which, again, doesn’t feel like something he’d do.
NFL Network named the 49ers as a potential landing spot for McLaurin if a trade were to happen:
After a 6-11 season caused — in part — by a number of devastating injuries, the 49ers are feeling the pressure to produce in 2025. They’ve paid Brock Purdy, cleared some cap space by trading away Deebo Samuel and expect Christian McCaffrey to back to his game-breaking self this season. The current state of their receiving corps, however, is giving them cause for concern. Their $30 million-per-year receiver Brandon Aiyuk doesn’t have a clear timetable to return from a season-ending knee injury suffered in 2024, leaving them with veteran Jauan Jennings and second-year wideout Ricky Pearsall as their top two options. McLaurin would fill out the group nicely and buy them plenty of time to be patient with Aiyuk while trotting out a threatening offense. Plus, after San Francisco sent Samuel to Washington to team up with McLaurin, the narrative crafted by a return shipment of McLaurin to the Bay Area would just be too juicy to ignore.
This might be something we can revisit closer to the trade deadline if McLaurin’s first half isn’t up to his expectations, and the Commanders have figured out how to be productive without him. But that would mean a trade would look like an Emmanuel Sanders type, where the Niners are giving up next to nothing for a veteran wideout.
Let’s say the 49ers get out to a similar start as they did back in 2019, but Brock Purdy’s weapons are underwhelming. Brandon Aiyuk is still getting his legs underneath him, Jauan Jennings’ calf injury lingers into the season, while Ricky Pearsall has yet to take the second-year jump as a pro.
That leaves Demarcus Robinson, George Kittle, and Christian McCaffrey. The 49ers have shown a willingness to be aggressive at the trade deadline. They are going to let their young players like Jacob Cowing and Jordan Watkins fail, but this is an organization that will strike when the iron is hot. Down the line, that could be McLaurin.
