It seems like every time Washington Commanders wide receiver Terry McLaurin goes against another NFC East cornerback and doesn’t have a monster game; there’s a graphic showing how that opposing cornerback shut down McLaurin.
As we all know, things are far more nuanced. Quarterback play often factors into a receiver’s numbers, and as we all know, McLaurin hasn’t often had steady quarterback play since coming into the league in 2019.
On Monday night, McLaurin had another difficult matchup with Eagles’ Pro Bowl corner Darius Slay.
It was a good night for McLaurin. According to Next Gen Stats, McLaurin lined up against Slay on 19 of his 29 routes run. McLaurin caught five of his seven targets for 90 yards. He finished the game with eight receptions for 128 yards.
Terry McLaurin faced Darius Slay on 19 of his 29 routes (66% shadow).
McLaurin caught 5 of 7 targets for 90 yards with Slay as the nearest defender, the most yards given up to a receiver by Slay since Week 15, 2021 (51 yards, also against McLaurin).#WASvsPHI | #HTTC pic.twitter.com/9JHEhBsgjC
— Next Gen Stats (@NextGenStats) November 15, 2022
As you can see, McLaurin’s usage has clearly gone up with Taylor Heinicke under center. During the first six games, one of the most-asked questions after games was, “why isn’t McLaurin more involved?”
McLaurin’s target rate has nearly doubled with Heinicke. With Carson Wentz, his target rate was at 16%, and it is 30% with Heinicke.
You have to give Heinicke credit; he knows Washington must feed McLaurin the football — regardless of who is defending him.
We’ll leave you with this one:
Terry McLaurin vs Darius Slay 🍿
pic.twitter.com/qPMDnE8ACS— PFF (@PFF) November 15, 2022
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