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Terry McLaurin is beloved by fans. He's a feel good story who fans appreciate for his hunger to be good and his ability to compete even when the team is not competitive. You don't find those kinds of players everyday. However, the NFL is a business and there's no room for feelings in business.
A lot of fans believe Terry has all the leverage in his quest for a new deal but is that true?
Not so fast my friends. Here's a few cards that the team holds in these negotiations. From least likely to plausible:
He wants to win - During his tenure here Terry has never experienced sustained winning. Terry knows how expensive it will be to retain our future free agents (Sweat , Young , Curl and others) so to have a chance at winning long term, he might have to take a discount.
Is there anyway Terry goes for this? Not a chance. Not his problem.
2. External vs internal value - There's a big contingent of evaluators who don't think Terry is as great as we think he is. They think he's a 2nd tier (13-20) W.R. Therefore, it's possible he may not get as much on the open market as he is asking for here.
**We believe there's enough GMs out there that would give him what he's asking for.
3. He hasn't made much $ in his career.
To you and I, Terry has garnered a massive amount of wealth but for an NFL player, Terry has been on government assistance. Terry signed a 4 year / 3.8 million rookie deal with 900k as an average salary. Factor in taxes, a place to live + cars and he's basically eating government cheese. Not really, but you get it. The point is, Terry would be hard pressed to not sign a franchise tender next year that represented him making 6x more($19 million) in one year than he made in his entire career.
4. Age, age, age - Terry will be 27 in September and is in the midst of his prime. The team is well aware that they have him under control for the remainder of his prime via use of franchise tenders, if they choose to go this route. It wouldn't make them any friends in Terry's camp but remember what I said earlier about feelings? Here's the numbers
- 2023 (age 28 season) - Franchise tag 1 - $19 million
- 2024 (age 29 season) - Franchise tag 2 - 23 million ( 120% of prior franchise tag) this increases as new WR deals are signed.
- 2025 (age 30 season) - Terry is an UFA but considered old by NFL standards. There have been a few recent massive contracts awarded to players at the age of 30 (Davante Adams) but those are typically reserved for the top of the top tier WRs and even his deal has opt outs after a few seasons.
Its important to note that we believe a deal will get done but it's important to always look at things from both sides.
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