Fantasy football: Where to draft Washington Commanders WR Terry McLaurin

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Washington’s owner Dan Snyder is gone and there is excitement in the air for the Commanders’ season. But the team’s outlook has not improved over last year. QB Sam Howell will start the season under center in his 2nd year and his play will have a direct impact on pass catchers like WR Terry McLaurin.

McLaurin’s 2022 season had its ups and downs. He exceeded 100 yards in 4 games, the same number of games in which he failed to reach 50 yards, finishing the season with 77 receptions for 1,191 yards and 5 TD — good for WR14 in PPR scoring.

The Commanders lost 3 of their last 4 games following their Week 14 bye and McLaurin never saw more than 6 targets in any of those outings, but like every year of his short career, there are other factors to blame for his low numbers. Washington threw for more than 200 yards just 7 times last year and 3 of them were in the first 5 weeks of the season. The question is will this year be like all other years?

Below, we look at Terry McLaurins‘s 2023 fantasy football average draft position (ADP) and where you should draft him.

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Terry McLaurin’s ADP: 56.79

(ADP data courtesy of MyFantasyLeague.com; last updated at time of this publishing – ADPs continually change as more drafts occur)

McLaurin has an ADP of 56.79 in redraft leagues, which puts him in the range of the 5th to 6th round, depending on the size of the league. His ADP is ahead of teammate WR Jahan Dotson (89.21).

McLaurin’s ADP puts him 24th amongst Wide Receivers, behind guys like D.J. Moore (53.84, Chicago Bears), Jerry Jeudy (51.07, Denver Broncos) and Christian Watson (51.63, Green Bay Packers) and ahead of WRs like Drake London (59.83, Atlanta Falcons), and Chris Godwin (60.28, Tampa Bay Buccaneers).

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Terry McLaurin’s 2022 stats

Games: 17

Receptions | targets: 77 | 120

Receiving yards: 1,191

Receiving touchdowns: 5

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Where should you draft McLaurin?

There are a few red flags when looking at McLaurin. First, Washington’s offensive line is terrible and Howell may not have time to wait for McLaurin to get downfield. Second, Howell has yet to prove himself as NFL-ready, although he did impress in the preseason. And third, McLaurin injured his toe last week, hurting his chances of playing in week 1.

When it’s your turn to draft and McLaurin is nearing the top of your list just know that all the wide receivers below him also have either quarterback questions or share the field with other threats to their production. You won’t regret passing on him at his current ADP and throwing a dart at Dotson in the next round instead, who saw 7 targets from Howell in the 2nd week of the preseason.

If the injury scare brings McLaurin into the 60s then you should snag him and hope that the toe doesn’t continue to be an issue throughout what is expected to be a reasonable 2023 for a player coming off a 1,000-yard season.

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