Former Ohio State WR Terry McLaurin 2nd best rookie WR of 2010’s
By Zane Harris
Recently, Pro Football Focus released their top rookie seasons from receivers in the 2010s. Coming in second on the list is former Ohio State Buckeye, Terry McLaurin.
Also included on the list in a very close second place is fellow Buckeye alum, Michael Thomas. The only player with the better rookie season as a receiver according to Pro Football Focus was Odell Beckham Jr. who had one of the best rookie seasons in recent NFL history.
The metric took into account even minuscule details of the season, even going into the level of play of the quarterback that was throwing to each receiver. With McLaurin being stuck in the middle of the absurd quarterback battle in Washington that may continue into the second season for he and Dwyane Haskins, it appears that he still may be having to deal with not knowing who is going to be throwing him the ball on a weekly basis.
Along with this, Pro Football Focus dropped some more rankings. They ranked McLaurin as the top rookie receiver of the 2019-2020 season and the third-best rookie of the year. This shows just how underrated he was going into the season. With McLauren only being the 76th overall pick of the 2019 NFL draft.
Lastly, in terms of rankings from Pro Football Focus, the site had McLaurin ranked as the second-best rookie receiver to have in a dynasty fantasy football league only behind A.J. Brown.
However, while these rankings are out of this world, they still do not quite do justice to how incredible the rookie season of Terry McLaurin was.
First, we will be looking at Odell Beckham Jr.’s rookie year which is widely disputed to be one of if not the best season from a rookie receiver since Anquan Boldin or Randy Moss. Also, in his rookie year, Odell still had Eli Manning who was still clinging onto his prime at the time.
In only twelve games Odell racked up 130 targets for 91 receptions. Those 91 receptions were good for 1305 yards and 12 touchdowns. Along with this, he was even slightly involved in the running game for the Giants. He had 7 rushing attempts for 35 yards.
Before getting into McLaurin’s stats, it is important to know that he had to deal with a very questionable quarterback battle between the teams first-round pick Dwayne Haskins and NFL vet and journeyman Alex Smith. It was announced today that Ron Rivera will even give Smith a chance to win his position back this season continuing the inconsistent quarterback play for McLaurin.
In 14 games, McLaurin was only targeted 93 times and had 58 receptions. However, he made the most with the receptions he did have. He totaled 919 yards, just a little short of achieving a 1,000-yard receiving season in just his rookie year.
Despite there being a stark contrast in his targets to receptions, McLaurin was only credited for dropping four balls the entire season. Lastly, he had 7 touchdowns on the year on a Washington team that struggled to put the ball in the end zone for the entire season.
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It will be very interesting to see how McLaurin will continue to progress as one of the best up and coming receivers in the league, if the coaching staff in Washington will continue to neglect Dwayne Haskins a real opportunity to prove himself in the NFL, and lastly, how the addition of Chase Young will help the team moving forward.