Terry McLaurin - WR, commanders Event: Press Conference | Date: 2026-09-10 | Full transcript (primary source).
Terry McLaurin addressed the media during a press conference on September 10, 2026, as the Washington Commanders prepared to kick off their NFL season. The discussion focused on the team's offseason preparations and their upcoming game against a formidable opponent.
Transcript
McLaurin: Yeah, it's exciting just to be here at week one. You know, the offseason can be pretty long and grueling, but we, I feel like everybody embraced the process from day one at OTAs to now, and so it's about just putting it all together and going on the road to play a really good team and starting the season off for our checks at the time.
McLaurin: Yeah, I think the group, we have a lot of great pieces and you put them together. We have a chance to be a really good group, but it's about going out there and proving it. You know what I mean? Pieces are only pieces until you put them together and make the puzzle, so that's what Sunday is about, trying to put all the pieces together and make a nice puzzle.
McLaurin: With Jayden, we know that he's going to do a great job of taking care of the football. He spreads the ball around, so everybody has to be ready to make plays. When you're going to get to defense like that, you got to stay ahead of the sticks and continue to try to stay on the field, you know, convert on third down, score in the red zone. Early part of the season, I think one of the biggest things is taking care of the football, you know what I mean? A lot of guys, we don't practice a lot of tackling during camp, so tackling for defense is out of premium and protecting the football.
McLaurin: I just think the connection is definitely a lot more consistent and not just from OTA's and camp, but you know the time that we had in spring working in LA, the time we had in summer work in LA, so we've been working this offense for months and months now, and so there's not really too many things or looks that we haven't seen from either our defense, posing defenses, so it's just about talking about the little details, you know what I mean? If a certain leverage comes up, where is he expecting, where am I expecting the ball to be? You know, from me just being clean with my demeanor when I have some routes that I may have a two-way go, just, you know, us being on the same page, but I think the biggest thing that's probably stood out to me is there's a lot of communication going on the side, which is great, but there's not a whole lot of communication going on in the field, which is good, because I feel like that's true connection to me is, it's a field, you know what I mean? It's not necessarily all they got a connection, it's a field between you and the quarterback, and I feel like him and I are definitely getting that field, and it's about, you know, like I said, doing it on Sunday.
McLaurin: I mean, like I said, we've been practicing these plays all of training camp, all of OTA, so while I was doing a great job of putting a plan together that will give us a chance to be successful against this specific defense, but running plays that we've been comfortable with, running since April, May, you know, July, all those, all those months we've just been putting in work in these same plays, and you know, I think really for the most part, around the league, a lot of teams run pretty vanilla stuff in camp and in free season, so I think the teams who have success come down a week one offensively, are the ones who take care of the football, stay ahead of the chains, convert on third down, and score on the red zone, score seven points, so I think Blouser did a great job of putting a plan in front of us that we're confident in, routes that we've been consistently repping for a long time, so it's just about us consistently executing.
McLaurin: Yeah, I mean, I think it's on and off the field, just what he brings to our room, to our team, to our group, you know, he's been a great addition, given knowing him more on a personal level, I've always had respect for his game, but he's a very intense worker, I think that has been something that everybody around the league knows, you know, he's a force multiplier with his local leadership, and you know, he's a pro's pro, he's played outside receiver at a high level, he's played a slot at a high level, so he knows how to run routes, he knows how to get open, and for myself that it just gives us all, Jaden as well, another weapon where you know he could go win, you know, we can put him on the outside, we can put him in the slot, we know he's gonna win, he put us on the same side, and then it puts the defense in a tough situation to have to cover us both, and so we've got two guys pushing the lead of a room like that, and then we have such a young nucleus of guys coming up, I think it's made our room a lot stronger, so it's just been great to get to know him, and he pushes me and I push him as well, we talk a lot of high level ball, just spacing, timing, tempos of routes, just the upper echelon of route running, that really can make the difference, and when you play with a quarterback like Jaden, like he sees the game so well, so it's just about being on the same page, but you know, he's came in here humbly, just wanting to help and get the best version of himself to not only help me, but to help all offense on the team.
McLaurin: Yeah.
McLaurin: I've always thought he was really accurate, honestly, I think his, you know, his touch on the deep ball has been great, he's always throwing a nice deep ball, but I just think the air that he's allowing us to track the ball makes a huge difference for us, guys like myself, Deyami, Traelynn, even Antonio, you know, we could get down the field and track the ball, but he has the arm like I've never seen before, but sometimes, you know, he just puts enough air on it now to where we could really track the ball, so his anticipation's been great, I feel like I've always thought that since he got here, but his ability to put the ball on the front pad when we're running crossing routes and running away from them, I think it's really hard to sometimes gauge every receiver's speed, but he just does a good job of giving you a chance to catch a run.
McLaurin: I just think his command of everything, you know, I think he's always been a hard worker, he's prepared extremely well for a young player, but the way he's commanding a huddle was completely different than what we did last year. He's been really clean in the way he's communicating in the huddle at the line of scrimmage, you know, Blouse giving him the keys to get us in the right play, which it takes a lot of cerebral ability from a quarterback to not only know what the defense is giving you, but getting you in the right play and then communicating it to the offense. I just think he's done an extremely great job doing that, and you know, his leadership has really stood out. He's a very laid-back person, may not say a whole lot, but you can definitely feel his intentionality and his fire when we're out there, and you know, if we don't get something right, he's ready to run it again. And I think just the last thing, his communication on and off the field with the receivers, if everyone's been great. We've had days where we've watched film of Philly just as a little receiver in quarterback room. There's been days where we get together as a whole offense, and he's really spearheading that. So I think his command of just everything that he's bringing to the table has really stood out.
McLaurin: That's a good question. I feel like the day one approach this year really stood out to me. You know, I'll just speak this one thing in the past. Like, 2024 was great, 2025 sucked, but neither one of them dictated how we came into this year. And I think one thing that stood out about VQ is I remember him getting his leaders together, and he put a few clips together of 2024 and 2025, and what the standard should look like and when it did it. And the way he's holding us accountable has even taken a step up there where he hasn't in the past, which has been great, but he's just expecting more. He's pushing more of us in. Also, he's allowed the leaders to take the team, you know what I mean? So there's a lot more self-policing, there's a lot more accountability coming from the players. And I just think the joy and the competitiveness is in this building right now. The joy of just being out here creating this culture, creating this team, the identity that we want to put on display, but also the competitiveness. Like, you guys are out here for a lot of the practices, and I've been here for a while, and I think that was one of the most competitive camps I've been a part of. Not just our team, but then we went against other teams as well. And even with Baltimore, that was like good on good, you know what I mean? You need those type of practices too, where they get after you, you get after them a little bit, and you respond. And I think after Baltimore, you could just feel the click with everybody that we needed to continue to take steps forward if we wanted to put ourselves in a situation to be confident going into this week. And I really feel like we did that. Going into the break that we just had last week, we had three great days. This week of practice has been really strong, and VQ's just talked about being in crazy shape, and I feel like we've really done that. And just taking the bull by the horns, and we're having fun, you know what I mean? Nobody's tight about it either. I think that's the most important thing. They're going to make plays, but we're going to make plays too, you know what I mean? And it's about, you know, I love hearing VQ talk about the winning time moments, so I feel like that's really going to make a difference. At the end of the day, you may not make all the plays that you want, but if you got the bone by his hands, or the defense has a chance to get him to stop and get us on the field, that's what's going to matter, those opportunities to really close it.
