Speaker 1: Welcome to the Command Center Podcast. I'm Braam Weinstein, Lak
Speaker 1: Charlie Taylor, Bobby Mitchell, three players who wore the Burgundy
Speaker 1: of Gold that ended up in Canton in the Hall
Speaker 1: of Fame. But what if I told you none of
Speaker 1: them in the first three seasons of their career statistically
Speaker 1: matched with Terry McLaurin has done in the first three
Speaker 1: years of his career. McLaurin is either first or second
Speaker 1: on the Franchises all time list in most receiving statistical categories.
Speaker 1: The guy who is ahead of them sat down with
Speaker 1: mcclurin for an unforgettable interview. Terry McLaurin, What I can't
Speaker 1: believe I'm sitting here with your brother. I've been watching
Speaker 1: you from day once since you got here, and you
Speaker 1: know what, you're starting to end a truth all my numbers.
Speaker 1: Man surpassing me, and that's the best thing I've ever heard.
Speaker 1: So it's a pleasure to meet you. Man. Tell me
Speaker 1: a little bit about today on what you're feeling. First
Speaker 1: of all, it's great just to be sitting with you
Speaker 1: and we're talking and you're one of the great receivers
Speaker 1: that's played in this franchise. So I just to be
Speaker 1: mentioned in the conversations with you is humbling for me.
Speaker 1: So I appreciate that. And this is a really exciting day,
Speaker 1: you know what I mean. Like coming from a player,
Speaker 1: you know how hard it is to get to this moment,
Speaker 1: you know what I mean. And a lot of people think,
Speaker 1: just we first get drafted, that's the end all be all,
Speaker 1: and it's a great day, but that's when the real
Speaker 1: work starts. And you know, to be drafted to this
Speaker 1: organization and to be able to become a leader early
Speaker 1: in my career and to be able to be productive
Speaker 1: and things like that, you know, it's a testament to
Speaker 1: the hard work and that I've been able to put
Speaker 1: in and the support that I've had. So to be
Speaker 1: able to share this with my family is just it
Speaker 1: brings it all together, you know what I mean. It
Speaker 1: makes those those days where I just you don't necessarily
Speaker 1: know sometimes or you know, you kind of have those
Speaker 1: those setbacks and you just keep grinding through it, you
Speaker 1: know what I mean, You keep praying through, or you
Speaker 1: keep working through, and you lean on your support system
Speaker 1: and to finally be at this moment, you know, it's
Speaker 1: kind of like an exhale to a certain degree, but
Speaker 1: that you know my mindset, it's kind of like, Okay,
Speaker 1: now that this has happened, I'm just ready to get
Speaker 1: back to work and show that I can improve my
Speaker 1: game and get it us to where we need to
Speaker 1: be as a team, because you know, when you were playing,
Speaker 1: there's so many great things that you guys were doing
Speaker 1: amongst this organization and set the table before we're at today.
Speaker 1: And I know we have a good group of guys
Speaker 1: in that locker room that really want to get this
Speaker 1: organization back to where it belongs. Dude, you are on point.
Speaker 1: I loved you. I loved you before, imagine now I
Speaker 1: love you even more so. To understand the history of
Speaker 1: the game, the history of the franchise, to know who
Speaker 1: came before quick thing. Did you know this though? None
Speaker 1: of our hall of famers And we got some great
Speaker 1: hall of famers, right mom, Charlie Taylor, Bobby Mitchell, three
Speaker 1: of the best I've ever seen in this franchise. None
Speaker 1: of them put up the numbers in our first three
Speaker 1: years that you put up. Wow, So that ain't tell
Speaker 1: it's going Nobody put up those numbers. But you how
Speaker 1: do you feel about being in that category of player
Speaker 1: in this franchise. Yeah, I mean, that's that's why you
Speaker 1: play the game. You want you want to be one
Speaker 1: of the best to ever do when you hang up
Speaker 1: your cleats. And I think, you know even more, what
Speaker 1: motivates me is just I want to win one of
Speaker 1: those that you got on your finger, you know what
Speaker 1: I mean, like genuinely, And I think through those team accolades,
Speaker 1: you get the individual success and you know, just to
Speaker 1: be those guys you see, you know, around the Ring
Speaker 1: of Honor in the stadium, and um, you want to
Speaker 1: be a part of those guys one day. And I'm
Speaker 1: fortunate to have some early success in my career, but um,
Speaker 1: I still take that day when mind set that when
Speaker 1: this camp starts at the end of this month, where
Speaker 1: I got to earn my spot again. You know, I mean,
Speaker 1: I'm that kid that is still hungry and it has
Speaker 1: feel like I need more to do, and I genuine
Speaker 1: believe that I just don't say that. So I'm excited
Speaker 1: to get back to work and try to continue to
Speaker 1: earn you know, the respect of you and people around
Speaker 1: the league and my teammates and my coaches each and
Speaker 1: every day. So hopefully one day when it's all said
Speaker 1: and done, then I can be sitting here with another
Speaker 1: young player saying what you're saying to me, Oh man,
Speaker 1: you are Art did not speak that way, where Art
Speaker 1: didn't ever talk at all. You remind me a lot
Speaker 1: of Ricky Sanders in the guests, Like Ricky was just
Speaker 1: a natural talent, hard worker. I think you remind me
Speaker 1: of Ricky y'alls reminding myself, natural talent is Ricky like
Speaker 1: that's Rickie was just a natural talented guy. I mean,
Speaker 1: quite honestly, he had to do anything. People still spectacular.
Speaker 1: I'm a grinder and I see that you still grind. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I see that. The leadership came your first year, your
Speaker 1: first year. That kind of obsessed me to because I
Speaker 1: just start my leadership to my second year in the league.
Speaker 1: But to have the locker room and the respect of
Speaker 1: the locker room the way that you have that must
Speaker 1: make you feel extremely proud because you became a leader
Speaker 1: from day one. You know, you show it with your
Speaker 1: play and then you should it with your words. The
Speaker 1: play came first to me, which is the most important part.
Speaker 1: The play came first, and then you should it with
Speaker 1: your words. And you can see how the team rivals
Speaker 1: around you when you speak, they listen. It's on your
Speaker 1: third year in the league, just to be your fourth
Speaker 1: year coming up. But how does that make you feel? Yeah,
Speaker 1: that's a great question, and I think you know, a
Speaker 1: lot of coaches and mentors I've had have seen those
Speaker 1: leadership qualities in myself, but I never wanted to appoint
Speaker 1: myself as that leader. I always saw myself as a
Speaker 1: guy who wanted to work hard, be accountable, be on time,
Speaker 1: be somebody you can depend on the field, depend on
Speaker 1: off the field. Not being perfect because I make mistakes,
Speaker 1: but just understanding what the standard is of this organization
Speaker 1: or whatever team group I've been a part of, and
Speaker 1: just trying to uphold that with my actions. And then
Speaker 1: you know, over time, people wanted to kind of hear
Speaker 1: more from my voice, and you know, sometimes you hear
Speaker 1: leadership just some kind of some people like tell people
Speaker 1: what to do or dictators. I didn't really want to
Speaker 1: be that, but I've kind of noticed that my leadership
Speaker 1: style is just vocally is you know, just continue to
Speaker 1: uphold the standard of which we're trying to create this
Speaker 1: culture right now, and you know, if we're having a
Speaker 1: tough day at practice, getting those guys up and encourage
Speaker 1: a young guy who may be struggling, you know what
Speaker 1: I mean, picking myself up when I when I may
Speaker 1: not be making the place I need to be making
Speaker 1: in practice of showing the consistency because you know to
Speaker 1: who much is giving much as expected and you have
Speaker 1: to bring it every day as a leader, you know
Speaker 1: what I mean, And you can't pick and choose your days.
Speaker 1: And I'm still growing and learning. I think I was
Speaker 1: very fortunate my first year to learn from a lot
Speaker 1: of great guys. Have an a killer to be my
Speaker 1: receiver coach at the time, Morgan Moses, case Keenum, Vernon Davis,
Speaker 1: Adrian Peterson, Like I got to learn from some ogs,
Speaker 1: you know, That's why I'll call them, you know what
Speaker 1: I mean, and who've been around and had a lot
Speaker 1: of great success. So I really got to learn early
Speaker 1: when I was here to see what it looks like,
Speaker 1: what a leader looks like, what that feels like, how
Speaker 1: guys respect and respond to that. And I wanted to
Speaker 1: just be myself and I think I've just continue to
Speaker 1: try to grow in that role. And you know, I
Speaker 1: think with the other leaders that we have, I don't
Speaker 1: think he's I don't think it's just me. I think
Speaker 1: it's really nice to have another group of guys that
Speaker 1: you could depend on to help lead this group. Because
Speaker 1: everybody has different leadership styles, but you put them all
Speaker 1: together and you have a great group. So I'm just
Speaker 1: looking to try to continue to earn that respect from
Speaker 1: them each and every day, you know what I mean,
Speaker 1: like to so they know that Terry's going to be dependable.
Speaker 1: We also know he has our back and he's gonna
Speaker 1: give us everything he got from first day of camp
Speaker 1: till last day of the season. And you know, that's
Speaker 1: so nice to hear because when I played, you know,
Speaker 1: the general public they believe that the quarterbacks the leader,
Speaker 1: the middle linebackers a leader, safety of leader. They look
Speaker 1: at a position way right. But what we found that
Speaker 1: when we won, it's because we had eight to ten
Speaker 1: leaders on the field that all the players will look
Speaker 1: up to and understand. Like, what I loved about what
Speaker 1: you just said is you can have somebody to come
Speaker 1: pick you up, and you can go pick somebody else up,
Speaker 1: and you can complain to somebody. Somebody can complain to
Speaker 1: you and it's not taken out of context. They're not
Speaker 1: mad about it. You'd be like, yeah, I gotta get
Speaker 1: my button, gel, I gotta get going. And that's so
Speaker 1: nice to hear that the leadership is starting to volte
Speaker 1: and turn that way. So I love with the direction
Speaker 1: that the team's going to be going. I love anytime
Speaker 1: that a receiver gets paid. I love that, especially when
Speaker 1: it's the Burgundy and go. And you just are so
Speaker 1: much more than what I expected, you know. I mean,
Speaker 1: I understood that you could play, but meeting you, having
Speaker 1: a conversation with you to see how you carry yourself
Speaker 1: to where you present yourself, and what I did get
Speaker 1: from day one is that you're passionate about playing. And
Speaker 1: that's why I liked you right off. That's why I
Speaker 1: loved about you right off. You're passionate about playing. You
Speaker 1: do not like to lose at all. And you see
Speaker 1: that you got another receiver coming in here, rookie coming
Speaker 1: in here. I kind of like him too. Starts and
Speaker 1: I kind of like him pretty good. So I'm wondering
Speaker 1: if you guys going to have the same chemistry as
Speaker 1: like Art and myself had because Art, I came in
Speaker 1: art with you right he was a person who's been here.
Speaker 1: The offense was built around him at the time the
Speaker 1: passing game runs. Our passing game is built around you,
Speaker 1: as it should be, because you're the guy that they know, right.
Speaker 1: I was talking about your love earlier today. Anything that
Speaker 1: comes around you, you bring, you come down. I mean,
Speaker 1: you got some of the best hands I've seen in football. Ye,
Speaker 1: if a bass high over my head, I was trying
Speaker 1: to get my chest up there so I could still
Speaker 1: body catch that, bad boy, because I didn't have to
Speaker 1: trust in my hands. So when you have to trust
Speaker 1: in your hands and you literally grab everything that you can't,
Speaker 1: how did this come about the wy you always out
Speaker 1: way or did it come over time? Yeah, it's humbling
Speaker 1: as you say that, because talking to Julie just not
Speaker 1: too long ago, I was speaking about that was actually
Speaker 1: one of the weaknesses in my game. Kind of my
Speaker 1: ball skills in college is something that they really wanted
Speaker 1: to to see me improve on if I wanted to
Speaker 1: be able to play at this level at a high level.
Speaker 1: And um, you know, I was a body catcher and still,
Speaker 1: you know, I still at the end of the day,
Speaker 1: I'm like, just catch the ball, you know what. That's
Speaker 1: always in my mindset at the end of the day.
Speaker 1: But I think there's there's time in this game where
Speaker 1: the separation UM's so small that the dbs are getting bigger.
Speaker 1: They're bigger, and separation may be hit to hit, but
Speaker 1: if you extend out with your hands, you can be
Speaker 1: able to bring that ball in. And that's the difference
Speaker 1: between a touchdown, the first down or the punt team
Speaker 1: and the field goal team coming on and um, I
Speaker 1: think it's just practicing. Then I really got into college
Speaker 1: and I started developing these drills with a tackling dummy
Speaker 1: that the the Alownman used with a jugg machine, and
Speaker 1: I would start shooting the ball a little above the
Speaker 1: tackling dummy, catching it over, making it hit my hands,
Speaker 1: just putting myself in really awkward situations, because if you
Speaker 1: really think about it, the juggle machines, I think it
Speaker 1: is great for receivers, but I think also you have
Speaker 1: to create drills that kind of really put you in
Speaker 1: game like situations, Like if you were out on that field,
Speaker 1: you never, rarely you catch your ball. You're just catching
Speaker 1: it and you're just standing there, nobody's around your arms grabbing.
Speaker 1: So I've really tried to create drills and scenarios that
Speaker 1: emulate the game, and then going into practice really trying
Speaker 1: to emphasize that. So if I have an opportunity to
Speaker 1: you know, make a contested catch, I'm treating it like
Speaker 1: a game. So when I go in the game, I'm
Speaker 1: not necessarily think about it just becomes habit and routine. So, um,
Speaker 1: as you continue to start making those plays, I saw
Speaker 1: myself making those plays more and more in practicing in games.
Speaker 1: It brings your confidence up more so now it's not
Speaker 1: am I going to make it? Now you just confidently
Speaker 1: go up there and try to make that play. And
Speaker 1: so um, it's really exciting, you know for me to
Speaker 1: continue to improve on that, and you know, to have
Speaker 1: you know, a low drop percentage and the contested catching
Speaker 1: success that I had last year. But I'm just just
Speaker 1: good with that, you know what I mean. I think
Speaker 1: if you don't come in with that same mindset for
Speaker 1: this season, then you could change just like that. So
Speaker 1: just your second, your second point of having Johan and
Speaker 1: the guys that we have, I think I take I
Speaker 1: take pride in being you know, I'm only my fourth year,
Speaker 1: I'm only twenty six, but I'm kind of the older
Speaker 1: guy in our room, and you know what it kind
Speaker 1: of looks like, and it's hard. It's hard to to
Speaker 1: play in this league and to do it consistently week
Speaker 1: in week out, like you know that, like you have
Speaker 1: to bring it every single week. And so you know,
Speaker 1: I have no problem leading our group and being the
Speaker 1: guy that takes the run of that, but I also
Speaker 1: want guys around me, and I think we have those
Speaker 1: guys in our room that can make plays and it's
Speaker 1: not just on one guy. We all can make plays.
Speaker 1: And you have to respect all the guys on the field,
Speaker 1: you know. I mean, I think that puts pressure on
Speaker 1: the defenses, and the best offenses you see in the
Speaker 1: league have multiple weapons. So I'm just gonna try to,
Speaker 1: you know, share as much wisdom as I can with
Speaker 1: him in our group and push them, and I know
Speaker 1: they're gonna push me. And we're gonna have a competitive room,
Speaker 1: you know what I mean. I think we're all going
Speaker 1: to compete to try to get better and come Sunday,
Speaker 1: we're gonna be the best group we can be for
Speaker 1: the quarterbacks in our offense. Um, so we could try
Speaker 1: to score a lot of points and make some big plays. Well,
Speaker 1: I tell you what, Man, I just want to say
Speaker 1: congratulations again. It could not happen to a better guy,
Speaker 1: a nicer guy, a smarter guy. See, there's a pleasure meeting.
Speaker 1: That's what I call it, tam Mac. It's a pleasure
Speaker 1: of being you. I hope you get to know you
Speaker 1: a lot better in the future. Thank you so much
Speaker 1: for allowing me to have a few words with Thanks appreciate,
Speaker 1: Thank you for all your Commanders news and analysis. Be
Speaker 1: sure to tune into Command Center weeknights at five thirty
Speaker 1: and ten pm on NBC Sports Washington, And while you're
Speaker 1: at it, follow at Commanders on all social media platforms
Speaker 1: for the latest on the team. Hail to the Commanders.