The New England Patriots are entering the 2025 season with a new sense of optimism, after back-to-back 4-13 seasons. But one area where the Patriots appear to still have a serious vulnerability is the receiver corps. In a typical evaluation, Pro Football Focus rated the New England receiver corps 31st out of the 32 in the NFL.
Only the Cleveland Browns ranked lower.
Whether it was ever a realistic possibility or not may never be known, but for months the Patriots have been rumored to be pursuing a major receiver room upgrade, by taking advantage of another organization’s bad situation. Namely, the Patriots were believed to be eyeing Washington Commanders’ two-time Pro Bowl wide receiver Terry McLaurin.
McLaurin Reportedly Requested Trade
McLaurin has been locked in an epic contract battle with the Commanders, as he prepares to enter the final year of his three-season, $68.4 million contract with Washington.
At the end of July, reports surfaced that McLaurin had actually requested a trade from the Commanders, unless they awarded him an extension to his current contract at a substantial raise.
According to ESPN NFL insider Adam Schefter, McLaurin was seeking to exceed the $33 million average annual value (AAV) of the extension former Seattle Seahawks wide receiver D.K. Metcalf signed with the Steelers after Seattle traded him to Pittsburgh in March.
Online ‘Scoops’ Account Says New McLaurin Deal Coming
If a new report dropped on the social media platform X (formerly Twitter) on Saturday is accurate, McLaurin may not be quite getting the amount Schefter believes he wants â but he will be getting about $30 million per year in an extension with the Commanders.
The report comes from a social media account with a track record of reporting accurate NFL “scoops.” The account @RickeyScoops, formerly @PrettyRickey213, “has incredibly and mysteriously broken consistent NFL news before anyone else. Sometimes even by days or weeks,” according to the sports media criticism site Awful Announcing.
“In fact, a look at some of the biggest NFL scoops of the offseason shows Rickey beating the biggest, most famous, and most notable NFL insiders by some distance and even taunting them along the way,” wrote Awful Announcing last year, in a staff-authored report.
So what did “Rickey” have to say about the McLaurin situation?
“McLaurin will be getting a new deal from the Commanders worth $30M per year and the extension should be completed before the season as details are still being finalized,” the account wrote. “A new deal for Scary Terry is coming!”
McLaurin Activated From PUP List
The “Rickey” report came about an hour after the Commanders announced that they had activated the 29-year-old receiver from the Physically Unable to Perform (PUP) list, a precursor to making McLaurin available to play once the season starts on September 7.
According to NFL.com insider Ian Rapoport, the activation of McLaurin offers “no indication of progress on an extension. But with the season looming, McLaurin will begin the process of getting his body ready.”
However, another ESPN NFL insider, Jeremy Fowler, said on Saturday that the Commanders remain “optimistic” that a “compromise” can be reached with their second-team All-Pro pass-catcher prior to the opening kickoff of the 2025 season.
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