The All Things Terry Thread

[skinsinparadise]

Just listened to Tony Pauline on Galdi who supposedly talked to NFL insiders he knows. He said he heard that Terry wants high guarantees and long term security as part of the contract.

 

[lovemaskins]

It sounds great to say 'these negotiations should've happened months ago' - but the fact of the matter is, if a player and his agent are demanding an outrageous deal, and the team communicates there is no way they will ever approach those kinds of numbers, there is nothing to negotiate unless said agent/player are willing to move from that position. Remember - the team doesn't HAVE to do a 3rd deal - period. He is under contract and they can extend that by a year if they want.

Why would the price increase with time? If anything, Terry's being petulant and trying to negotiate in public isn't exactly a great tactic to motivate the team to move towards his desired #.

Adam mentioned wanting to re-sign Terry soon after the season ended. Who knows when the conversations started, but from what I keep hearing, Adam and John Lynch and co., “usually” start serious contract talks later in the year, around August. That’s late.

Player contracts increase every time someone else gets signed. Thus Terry’s group thinking their demand of $34M is a reasonable ask since they’re comping DK. Or who knows, maybe he asked for Justin Jefferson money back in May…

But, it’s harder to tell him today he can’t get $34M than prior to the DK trade / contract to Pittsburgh.

If Peters really does / did want to keep Terry long term or any player really, it saves the team money signing the player before for the market resets…

All I’m saying is based on rumors, the Commanders front office should have prioritized this restructure earlier in the offseason if they indeed wanted to get it done.

Our front office hasn’t exactly played a perfect hand here either. There’s blame to go around.

 

[Boone]

But you ignore the most salient fact. They don’t have to re-sign him. He’s under contract in 2025 and they can extend that to 2026.

They may well have decided that 2 years is what they need from him, and they can do that at a bargain compared to what ‘re-signing’ him costs.

 

[lovemaskins]

Then why come out and say otherwise. I personally saw the Peters interview this spring talking about wanting to keep him long term. Would’ve been just as easy to say “Terry is under contract, nothing to see here… next question.”🤷

And it’s hard to ask an elite / borderline elite player to play out the last year of his contract and risk injury. Those guys always hold out… that list is long.

 

[Boone]

Why does he need to share his plans or thoughts publicly?

Seriously - the Front Office is going to do smart business and they aren’t all that concerned with PR or players hurt feelings or fan hand-wringing. We’ve had the opposite for so long that it feels like we don’t actually recognize that’s what GOOD front offices do.

They may feel that signing McLaurin long-term isn’t in the best interests of the team, or at least if it comes at an exorbitant cost may not be.

There is nothing inherently wrong or bad about that position if in fact that is their assessment.

 

[SkinsLife]

I cant imagine Terry sitting out.... not at 30y old. If he was 26... maybe (even though that tactic has been proven to be idiotic).. you still have 4-5 good years. No other team is going to give terry over 30mil per year at 31y old... no matter where the WR pay is headed.

 

[tshile]

We’ve had the opposite for so long that it feels like we don’t actually recognize that’s what GOOD front offices do

Or what truly elite players look like

 

[Boone]

Then why come out and say otherwise. I personally saw the Peters interview this spring talking about wanting to keep him long term. Would’ve been just as easy to say “Terry is under contract, nothing to see here… next question.”🤷

And it’s hard to ask an elite / borderline elite player to play out the last year of his contract and risk injury. Those guys always hold out… that list is long.

And btw - these are just my thoughts. I appreciate alternative interpretations and as my good buddy Neophyte likes to remind us, we have no idea what has or is actually going on behind the scenes.

 

[lovemaskins]

Why does he need to share his plans or thoughts publicly?

Seriously - the Front Office is going to do smart business and they aren’t all that concerned with PR or players hurt feelings or fan hand-wringing. We’ve had the opposite for so long that it feels like we don’t actually recognize that’s what GOOD front offices do.

They may feel that signing McLaurin along-term isn’t in the best interests of the team, or at least if it comes at an exorbitant cost may not be.

There is nothing inherently wrong or bad about that position if in fact that is their assessment.

My thoughts exactly, Peters could’ve kept his mouth shut and kept all team contract business private.

If they only want him for these last 2 years, fine. But that’s not what they said. So, they’ve set expectations of a long term deal, so here comes Terry like “yeah, hey family! Time for my payday!”

And you think Peters does an about face, “you’re still under contract!” Of course not. He’s not that guy at all. I like Adam a lot.

He did the right thing, showed Terry some love, within reasonable team expectations and offered him a decent but lowball offer to begin negotiations. Terry said “politely sir, not no, but hell no..” and here we are.

 

[KDawg]

At the end of the day, Terry is a guy we would obviously prefer be on the field for us than not. He is making a run at all of our receiving records (won’t catch Monk on a few but can get there with some longevity on others)

But, this is business. And good teams don’t generally live or die on if a receiver who is skill wise in that 10-20 range overall (I’d say closer to 10 than 20… and his leadership gives him a bit more credit).

We are now a good team. Terry isn’t our end all be all. He’s a key cog, as he should be. But he’s not the heartbeat anymore. Good teams don’t have WRs as the heartbeat… because it’s their QB.

That’s not a knock on Terry. I love Terry. I want him to get paid and be on the field. But I want this team to make decisions that build the team, too.

Basically, I’m not stressing either way.

Looking at this list of highest paid, Terry deserves more cash than Aiyuk, Waddle, Moore, Smith, Collins, Deebo and Pittman, imo.

He and Amon Ra St. Brown are very similar in impact. $30.5/year makes some sense, in my non-front office opinion.

 

[Boone]

Great post KDawg. I think Peters will prove to be a pretty stingy/conservative GM, so I am guessing they are shooting to get Terry for 2 more seasons (2026-2027) in the 25-27 million range.

I think the way to get this done is to offer him a fully guaranteed deal at those numbers but to sweeten the pot with $35 million guaranteed in 2025.

 

[HOF44]

Great post KDawg. I think Peters will prove to be a pretty stingy/conservative GM, so I am guessing they are shooting to get Terry for 2 more seasons (2026-2027) in the 25-27 million range.

I think the way to get this done is to offer him a fully guaranteed deal at those numbers but to sweeten the pot with $35 million guaranteed in 2025.

Also add 2 voidable years to blow up the numbers and make it look good if that’s the hold up.

 

[skinsinparadise]

Based on what I keep hearing as to podcasts, reports, etc. I'd be somewhat surprised if he gets 30 million or 30 million plus.

Bottom line is what's been said is this FO apparently doesn't see Terry versus other WR in a vacuum where age isn't part of it. The 30 plus year old fall off is paramount on their mind. As Keim likes to say the fact that his new contract will start at 31 is VERY relevant to this anayltical based FO. Keim said talking to other personnel people on other teams -- the idea that Terry will be 31 and the fear of the fall off of 30 year old plus WRs is a dynamic shared by other front offices.

There are some WRs who defy the odds and play well into their 30s but alas too many drop off.

Keim was asked to guess a compromise deal between the team and Terry and he guessed 28 milion a year.

 

[KDawg]

Based on what I keep hearing as to podcasts, reports, etc. I'd be somewhat surprised if he gets 30 million or 30 million plus.

Bottom line iswhat's been said is this FO apparently doesn't see Terry versus other WR in a vacuum where age isn't part of it. The 30 plus year old fall off is paramount on their mind. As Keim likes to say the fact that his new contract will start at 31 is VERY relevant to this anayltical based FO. Keim said talking to other personnel people on other teams -- the idea that Terry will be 31 and the fear of the fall off of 30 year old plus WRs is a dynamic shares by other front offices.

There are some WRs who defy the odds and play well into their 30s but alas too many drop off.

Keim was asked to guess a compromise deal between the team and Terry and he guessed 28 milion a year.

Yes, I think this is the path. Like Boone said, to make up for some of the yearly salary, guaranteed money can be bumped a bit to make it more enticing.

Regardless, this team can’t pay him more than a little bit over his league market value.

And while I think he slots in nicely around 30.5 or so, I don’t think the League would agree. 28+bumped guaranteed is probably the best way forward.

 

[Anselmheifer]

Not sure why Terry’s wife keeps catching heat here.

Terry is eventually going to sign. We will do something to sweeten our deal, like guarantee more money, but there is no reason for us to give a ridiculous AAV when Terry is under contract and we can franchise him.

What other successful franchises do business by overpaying aging vets?

 

[HTTR]

Not sure why Terry’s wife keeps catching heat here.

Terry is eventually going to sign. We will do something to sweeten our deal, like guarantee more money, but there is no reason for us to give a ridiculous AAV when Terry is under contract and we can franchise him.

What other successful franchises do business by overpaying aging vets?

I think (hope) that’s mainly in jest. But he did just get married, and his actions and behavior during this saga are very much out of character. So who knows?

I agree he is gonna sign sooner or later. Us fans are waaay overreacting. These ridiculous negotiating tactics by him and his agent have unfortunately become pretty much the norm in the league. Terry will be back on the field week 1 and all will be well.

And if I’m wrong and he would actually give up this great opportunity to hold out for a few extra millions I will be shocked. If so, he’s not the guy we always thought he was and I too will start to question if marriage has changed him.

And now, it’s back to ignoring this thread because it breaks my heart to see Terry smeared like this even if it is deserved.

 

[Boone]

If so, he’s not the guy we always thought he was and I too will start to question if marriage has changed him.

And now, it’s back to ignoring this thread because it breaks my heart to see Terry smeared like this even if it is deserved.

I think he has already demonstrated he’s not the guy we always thought he was.

And how is he ‘smeared’? He’s smearing himself at this point. I cannot understand any other viewpoint.

 

[Voice_of_Reason]

Brandon Ayuk?

I mean, Peters knows him but he’s coming off an ACL, right?

I think that might start to feel very Comanthers if we keep signing SF guys.

Voice_of_Reason
I get what your saying about regretting it

But I’ll take the counter argument there (though I don’t feel strongly either way or have evidence either way, which is great)

I think it’s reasonable to think what the team is doing is setting realistic expectations here. They kept quiet - when the past regime would leak false information to hurt a persons reputation if they were in a bad spot with them. They (supposedly) offered a fair deal, and are holding to their values in the face of overly unrealistic expectations by an unseasoned agent and terry. They let him come into the PUP so he can avoid the 50k per day fine for holding out, as a favor to him while they wait for him to get his head straight.

I realize the players generally (at least publicly) are for players getting the $ they think they’ve earned. But I bet there’s a number of them that are looking at last season, thinking there’s a real shot here, putting in max effort (lol we hope) to make the most of this coming season… and here’s the team making a reasonable extension offer, and a player under contract refusing to participate because 27 mil a year to play a game isn’t enough for him.

I see room here to argue the team feels great about how they handled it, and what it means for the culture (even if they’d prefer to not be in this situation at all)

I think they are just regretting letting Terry dictate the PUP thing. I think they probably wish they had just started him as acrive. Becuase now there is a path to beginning of season PUP/IR and it’s harder to argue he is holding out just because of the contract. Which of course he is.

I think they need to end that part of the sham immediately.

 

[HTTR]

I think he has already demonstrated he’s not the guy we always thought he was.

And how is he ‘smeared’? He’s smearing himself at this point. I cannot understand any other viewpoint.

I hear ya. No doubt he’s brought it on himself. It’s funny because I caught grief on here early in this process for bashing him for holding out and now it’s come full circle as more information has come out. At this point I’m choosing to believe it’s all a show for negotiating purposes rather than believe he’s been a fraud for 6 years, and I’ve decided not to judge him as a person by his worst moment.

 

[Boone]

I hear ya. No doubt he’s brought it on himself. It’s funny because I caught grief on here early in this process for bashing him for holding out and now it’s come full circle as more information has come out. At this point I’m choosing to believe it’s all a show for negotiating purposes rather than believe he’s been a fraud for 6 years, and I’ve decided not to judge him as a person by his worst moment.

Totally appreciate all of that. I was mostly responding to your characterization that McLaurin was being ‘smeared’ - because I think McLaurin himself owns whatever fan discontent is being expressed.

I think Washington fans almost universally admire McLaurin and want him to continue to be a part of this journey. His actions are putting that good will at risk, it has nothing to do with the fanbase.