The Commanders are 4-12, the season ends in five days, and the Ron Rivera era likely ends within 24 hours after the season does – but that doesn’t mean everyone is phoning it in just yet.
At the end of Sunday’s loss to the 49ers, Terry McLaurin was asked about potentially playing for a winner in the future, and this is what he said:
“You know, they’ve got a great staff over there (in San Francisco). They've got great players, you can tell they love playing together. Hopefully, I can be a part of something like that, but I'm just focused on myself, my world, and my journey, and I'm going to keep working to be the best player I can be. I really got to be around (Niners players at the Pro Bowl), and it kind of reminds me a little bit of what the guys were at Ohio State, because the kind of culture that they have and everything. You see why they have the success that they do.”
“Sounds like he's kind of jealous of it, and I get it. When you're on a 4-13 and you're talking about a team that's gonna be the No. 1 overall seed, they're doing something right that you're not,” Bish said. “It’s interesting to see if what kind of changes are gonna be made on this roster. There could be some bigger names that you might not expect to go.”
“I'm kind of torn on Terry McLaurin; I really love his talent, and he’s not a top-tier wideout but he's pretty close, like he might be that next cut below,” Cakes replied. “I would like to live in like a hypothetical world where I could see Terry as, like, the No. 2 on the Chiefs, with Patrick Mahomes throwing him the ball over the same time span as he had here. What would his numbers look like if he had a real functioning offense, cohesion with the offensive coordinator, not all this turnover with the quarterbacks?”
Because of that, Cakes’ tear is wanting to see Terry get dealt to a contender to see how he blossoms.
“Part of me, part of me wants to see him get dealt to a contender, because he's already got five seasons in,” Cakes said. “He's young enough where he could go through a rebuild, but I just feel like deep down, he probably looks at what other guys have as far as quarterback stability, better offensive ecosystem that they're working in, and he's like, ‘man, I wish I really wish I had that.’”
Of course, just like Jonathan Allen, he signed the new contract, and there’s something to be said for financial stability, but…
“You want to secure your family, but you chose to be here in a state of flux, and now when you’re 4-13, you say you wish you were there?” Bish said. “Well, you decided to stay here.”
“On the other side, if you're the new regime coming in, you're gonna look up and down the roster and parse it every which way, and you're gonna see McLaurin and say he's a building block type of piece for the offense,” Cakes replied. “He's a guy that we can rely on, that's performed through adverse quarterback play, through weird ownership, through offenses that have been dysfunctional; he still has value and he certainly has more value if you hit on the quarterback and they develop that chemistry between them and have a rapport. That's what you hope to see, but if I'm Terry McLaurin, I just have to hope they hit on the quarterback decision; otherwise, that’s another chunk of his career.”
So, it seems, like Allen, he’s at a career crossroads – valuable as a trade chip, but maybe too valuable to the team to trade, even if that’s best for him personally.
“He’s kind of at a mini career crossroads here; does he stay and rebuild with whoever the new guy is,” Cakes said, “or does he go to his agent and say, ‘hey, I've got five years here, it hasn't worked, I need a fresh start too?’”
