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What will Washington's offense look like in 2026 under David Blough?
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00:00Terry McLaurin, talking with Rich Eisen on the business of football last year
00:06and what impact that made on the season.
00:10Yeah, I mean, I think that's a fair question.
00:12I think it definitely intersected.
00:14I think a lot of people say when the business and football intersect,
00:18like it can definitely shake up a lot of things.
00:22And, you know, when you're a player who's been around for a while like myself
00:25and had a key role in this team for a while,
00:28so, you know, you know the importance of being out there,
00:32and that was something that was always on my mind.
00:34But at the same time, this is a business.
00:36It's a business for the player, and it's a business for the team.
00:38Like if you don't produce, teams move on from you.
00:42And when you produce at a high level, as a player, you deserve to be compensated like that.
00:47So it was definitely a challenge.
00:49I think the biggest part that I missed was this team-building aspect in the spring.
00:54Obviously, you have that around camp, but I think spring, everything is new,
00:57and with us having a new offensive coordinator, defensive coordinator,
01:02you know, Jaden being back and healthy and everything like that.
01:04Building this new office is extremely important for me to be here each and every day.
01:10Yeah.
01:11I think the opportunities, like just watching Terry run around last week,
01:18catch the passes, watching he and Jaden interact,
01:22there's just an entirely different feel.
01:24And I think if you're Terry, dude, like from a straight offensive football standpoint,
01:30he had the 13 touchdowns in 2024, but the yardage wasn't tremendous.
01:38I think he was like at 1,050 yards.
01:40And if you watched enough of Cliff's offense, I'm sorry, it was just under 1,100 yards.
01:48But Terry's role was not stagnant because obviously he's not static.
01:54He's moving around.
01:55He's running around.
01:55But you don't have much motion.
01:56He was almost exclusively on the left-hand side.
01:58The quarterback's almost exclusively in shotgun.
02:01Like I imagine if you're Terry and you're installing a new offense that probably on some level
02:08reminds him of the offense he broke in with, even with Jay Gruden,
02:12like he's probably excited about that.
02:14Yeah.
02:14Like it's a pro-style offense.
02:15I'm sure he is.
02:16The thing of it, like no player wants to line up in the same spot every time
02:22because at that point you're telling the defense what you're running.
02:26For him to have the level of success he's had in that offense in that first year,
02:32that's a testament to how good he is.
02:35Most guys that line up in that same spot every time wouldn't have the same level of success.
02:39But the contested catches and things of that nature, you know,
02:42being a guy who can take a ball, catch a hitch, and go the distance on it.
02:46All those things helped him out.
02:48But now you got an offense where you're moving around, they can't figure it out.
02:52He'll get more real one-on-one battles where a defense isn't set up to stop you
02:58because you're the best receiver on this team.
03:00So when you, oh, he's going to be on the left side all the time.
03:03They have the defense already prepared for him.
03:06He may be on the right at one point.
03:07He may be in the slide.
03:08He may be at...
03:09Now you can't just set it up.
03:11I think Terry will have more success in this double offense.
03:14I'd love to go back and find the story.
03:16Sadly, I fear it might be, like, redacted off the internet due to various corporate things.
03:22Pete Haley at one point wrote a story about McLaurin's success running slants
03:26and why don't they run them more.
03:28And, like, Terry is tough.
03:31Like, he'll go inside and get you those yards.
03:34And I think we'll see a return of that.
03:38I think it's a very exciting and probably important offseason for Terry
03:42because the reality is in the business of football, there's a non-zero chance he's a free agent next year.
03:50Like, that's just the reality of what's going to be...
03:52You can't think about that.
03:53When you're playing ball, all you can focus on is right now.
03:56And, like, every year when I would come up, I would get the questions all the time.
04:01Hey, you know, this could be your last year.
04:04Earl, are you worried about it?
04:05No, I'm worried about it right now.
04:06And I think if he approaches it that way, if he handles his business at a high level,
04:12whether it's here or somewhere else, you put yourself in a great position.
04:15But if you start thinking about what may come at the end of the year,
04:19you won't have enough focus on what's happening right now.
04:21And guess what?
04:22You won't automatically be free somewhere or nobody else may not have the same interest in you.
04:27So I would say, if any advice I would give him, do what you've been doing.
04:32I agree with that.
04:33In about 20 minutes, we're going to be joined by Commander's Team President Mark Klaus
04:37to talk through some of these new affordable food options available to season ticket members.
04:42That should be really cool.
04:43But I also...
04:44There's another clip from the Rich Eisen show that I thought was worthwhile for our audience
04:50because I think there needs to be this reminder of Jaden Daniels.
04:56And I think Terry did a heck of a job of explaining his excitement level with Jaden going into this,
05:02their third year together.
05:05He looks really, really good.
05:07And since I know Jaden since he got drafted, he's always been a focused, determined, prepared player,
05:13young guy.
05:14But now he's a vet.
05:15And this offseason, you can tell he's taking even more of a leadership role,
05:20more initiative of putting his hands on the steering wheel of this offense.
05:26I think it's no secret that Blau wants to build this offense around him,
05:30the things that he does really well.
05:31And I mean, there's countless things he does well.
05:33And him being able to work under center and use more of the play action is only going to not
05:38only help him,
05:39but it's going to help the receivers, it's going to help the O-line, the running backs, the tight ends.
05:42And so I just think the biggest thing you can tell, his voice is becoming more and more loud.
05:48He's a very laid-back person.
05:50But from getting us together, throwing in L.A., you know, before OTA started,
05:55to the way he's communicating in the meetings,
05:58him and I are having so many conversations, not only on the field, but through text.
06:04Because, I mean, people, when a guy gets drafted first round, come in,
06:11you automatically assume, oh, he's a quarterback.
06:14People have to get a level of feel for you.
06:17You want to make sure you have it all under control for you
06:21before you start barking out stuff to other people.
06:24He was already a leader when he got here in his first year.
06:26But now you're more assertive.
06:29You get what I'm saying?
06:30Totally.
06:30You now say, hey, let's do this.
06:32How about trying this?
06:34You start being a little bit more voiceless.
06:36And I think when you start doing those type of things, other people pick it up.
06:39And that's when I think other guys also start to say, okay, he's starting to feel it now.
06:44Remember, Terry came in here as a third-round pick and became the guy.
06:50He wasn't saying as much early on.
06:52All of a sudden, when he started to produce on that field,
06:56you saw him become more assertive,
06:58beginning to be a little bit more, speaking out a little bit more,
07:01and also showing the way, leading guys.
07:03Same thing.
07:04No matter what position it is, you can't talk before you produce.
07:08Yeah, and I think Jaden has that Southern California laid-back, chill quality about him,
07:14whatever you want to call that,
07:15that I think it's going to really kind of –
07:19this offense, the David Blau offense, is going to require that to be different in a lot of ways
07:25because there's more verbiage.
07:27You're in the huddle more.
07:30Like, there's more pre-snap motion.
07:33All of that puts some extra onus on the QB.
07:36Yeah.
07:36And I think, in turn, like, you're almost forced to be more vocal because there's more stuff to say.
07:44Especially in an offense right now where he probably had as much to do with putting this offense together as
07:52anybody else.
07:53Right.
07:53So, whenever you feel like something is your baby, okay, let's say you go out, somebody say,
08:01hey, come join this show with me.
08:03That's one thing.
08:04But you start that show.
08:06You have a different level of approach for it, a different level of dedication.
08:10And I believe him being a part with David putting his offense together makes him feel even more emboldened
08:17to go out there and speak a little bit more.
08:19Because I know exactly what we're trying to do.
08:22100%.
08:22And we just heard Blau talking who said, like, yeah, you know,
08:27there's going to be a lot of components of other places I've been,
08:29but there's also components of stuff we've done here that we really like.
08:34Yeah.
08:34Like, I think it's going to look different, but Jaden's still going to be in shotgun 50%, 60% of
08:41the snaps.
08:41Like, it's not all going to be totally different.
08:45We've talked about this.
08:45When they did the rebrand, 2-2-22, they threw away a lot of the good stuff that they didn't
08:51need to.
08:52Like, there was plenty of good from Cliff's offense that you don't have to dismantle and get rid of.
08:57And I applaud the approach that kind of explains or embraces, you know, we did plenty of good stuff here.
09:09So, we don't, like, you know some coaches, you know this, some coaches are so addicted to their own system
09:16and so self-righteous in the importance of running exactly their thing that they will kind of tear down a
09:24roster
09:24to get what they want to then rebuild it rather than adapting their system to what the roster has.
09:30Like, I think Brian Dable's a great example of that, right?
09:34Like, Dable can run offense for sure, but he's also just kind of a, he's kind of pompous about the
09:42superiority of his offense
09:44to the point where it's detrimental, where it's like cutting your nose off to spite your face.
09:48I don't think that's Blau's approach whatsoever.
09:50I don't get that impression.
09:51Remember I told you the story about Andy Reid, how when Brian Westbrook came to our Philly?
09:59Andy didn't care that Brian didn't know the whole offense.
10:02He saw what Brian was very good at.
10:05So, he found out those little 10 to 15 plays that he could do very well at what he was
10:09capable of.
10:11And he ran him to death.
10:12You know what I mean?
10:14Some coaches, if you don't know the whole offense, I'm not going to let you play.
10:17Right.
10:18You have a guy who's exceptional at doing two or three things right now.
10:21He should not have to wait until you know everything before you put him on the football field.
10:25And I think when you look at this whole deal with Blau, he saw things that work and didn't work.
10:30He know things that work on another team and didn't work.
10:33So, now that's the stage he's in where he has to go through those things on the field.
10:38If they work, you keep them.
10:40If they don't, get rid of them.
10:42You know, I think you have to get to a point where just because you used to do something somewhere
10:49doesn't mean it has to be with you this place.
10:51If it's not working, get rid of it.
10:53Or it can hinder you.
10:55Totally.
10:56I think, so, Stan writes the questions, right?
11:00And the question here, which I think is fair, do you expect this offense to be built for Jaden?
11:07And what does that mean?
11:09What do you think Jaden wants more of?
11:11What do you think offensively they want more of?
11:13I think it's going to be built according to what you know Jaden is about.
11:19I also believe that it's going to be built in a way where it's not, if Jaden, let's see, years
11:26down the road,
11:27he's somewhere else.
11:28Somebody else can run his offense too.
11:30You know, as a quarterback, I hope Jaden is getting to the level of that maturity where I understand the
11:40importance of the running game.
11:41You know what I'm saying?
11:42Yep.
11:42I understand the importance of play action.
11:46And now to see not being in the shotgun, the advantage you have when you turn your back and that
11:52defense doesn't see that football.
11:54All those things need to be on his mind as they put this thing together.
11:59But Blau can't build this thing just solely for Jaden Daniel.
12:05He's not going to always be coaching Jaden Daniels.
12:07You know?
12:08And Jaden Daniels will not always be just in this offense.
12:11He may have to be in something else a little different.
12:14So you got to understand that some things may be what you're very comfortable with.
12:18Some things may be something that you're not comfortable with, but it may be very, very effective at getting to
12:23where you want to go.
12:25I think Caleb Williams last year, when Ben Johnson took over that offense, I think if you go back and
12:35look at some of the reporting,
12:37I think there were some clunky moments with Ben Johnson getting Caleb Williams to go under center.
12:42I don't know if there was reluctance on Caleb's part or if it just took some time,
12:48but I think getting Caleb Williams under center was really, really positive for that Bears offense.
12:53Bears also ran the hell out of the football.
12:56That dude, Manung guy in the second half of the season was killing people.
12:59But being comfortable is something people got to – being uncomfortable.
13:04Being comfortable when you're uncomfortable is what people got to get used to.
13:09Everybody wants – listen, nobody is different.
13:13Every athlete is just like any other person out there.
13:15You want to do what the hell you feel comfortable doing.
13:19As soon as something makes you feel a little uncomfortable, you want to get rid of it.
13:23Try it.
13:24And if you try it a little bit, then all of a sudden you realize, well, damn, this works.
13:29And the moment you see that it works, now you have a different level of focus.
13:34You know, so when you can focus on something that you don't – oh, I'm not comfortable doing this,
13:38you see the success you get with it, you will change your mind.
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