This is the first name that comes to mind when I think about a wide range of fantasy football outcomes in 2025. Coming off of a career year (13 TD receptions) in Jayden Daniels’ rookie campaign, the ceiling felt limitless for Terry McLaurin just 12 months ago.
A Daniels injury and some natural regression: McLaurin sank your ship last season. So, what should you make of him entering 2026, his eighth as a pro?
Should You Draft Terry McLaurin in Fantasy Football?
In PFN’s Free Fantasy Mock Draft Simulator, McLaurin checks in at 53.4, which is around the early to mid part of the 5th round. His positional rank with me and Kyle Soppe is WR20, which gives him a projected fantasy points-per-game output of 14.2.
Let me explain why McLaurin is one of my favorite picks in fantasy this season. If it weren’t for one other guy, McLaurin would be my number one guy this season.
Last year, I could not have been more out on McLaurin. I thought he was such an easy fade because he was the same wide receiver he’d been his entire career in 2024, except he just happened to score 13 touchdowns.
Nothing else about his profile changed at all. Naturally, that was going to regress. He had 29 touchdowns in his previous 90 career games prior to 2024, then suddenly spiked to 13. Not going to happen. Last year, he put up 11.4 points per game, a career low.
Now he’s turning 31 years old. Is he declining? Is this the beginning of the end? Should we be fading him? Typically, I would fade this type of receiver, but I truly believe that last year’s disaster was purely a product of injuries, not just to him, but also to Jayden Daniels.
He still averaged 2.9 yards per route run last year. That was a career high for Terry. The talent is very much still there. We have seen absolutely no signs of decline. He averaged 9.7 yards per target.
Now we have a healthy Jayden Daniels, presumably. We have McLaurin locked in as the WR1. I am not concerned at all about the addition of Stefon Diggs because there are plenty of other receivers there soaking up 20, 30, 40 targets who don’t need them. He can take targets away from Treylon Burks, Dyami Brown, Luke McCaffrey, and Jaylin Lane. All those targets can go to Diggs. They’re not coming away from Terry.
They operate in different areas of the field. Terry’s going to get higher aDOT targets. Diggs, at this point in his career, is just going to be a check-down guy near the line of scrimmage. Both of them are great picks this year, I think, because they fit very well in this offense.
I am well above ADP on McLaurin. I’m carrying this WR20 consensus rank, and for me he is one of my favorite picks. Honestly, I would take him as early as the first half of the 4th round. That is how confident I am that McLaurin is a mispriced wide receiver.
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Terry McLaurin’s Week 1 Fantasy Outlook
Analysis provided by PFN Analyst Kyle Soppe.
The Eagles are solid across the board. Last season, they had a top-10 defense in terms of points, yards per play, and red-zone efficiency. By any metric, this is a tough matchup that requires a bit of a downgrade, but if you drafted McLaurin, you’re betting on this offense finding its footing with a healthy Jayden Daniels and, under that assumption, I think you’re playing Washington’s alpha without a second thought.
Not only has he caught a touchdown in each of his past two games with Daniels under center against the divisional rival, but the top-producing WRs in the expected points department last season in this matchup were the stars you’d expect:
Puka Nacua (Week 3): 25.0 expected PPR points
Amon-Ra St. Brown (Week 11): 21.2
CeeDee Lamb (Week 1): 21.0
Jordan Addison (Week 7): 20.9
CeeDee Lamb (Week 12): 20.8
Justin Jefferson (Week 7): 17.6
Emeka Egbuka (Week 4): 16.9
Yea, yea, yea, Addison is on the list, but you get the idea: opponents largely felt comfortable going to their ace pass catcher in this matchup, and there is no debating McLaurin’s spot in this hierarchy.
Daniels is a dynamic playmaker, and we’ve seen that profile twist this team in knots. Bo Nix went into Philly and got a W last season, Jaxson Dart blew them out in an island game, and Caleb Williams walked in there on a Friday night and won by 9 (both Kyle Monangai and D’Andre Swift ran for over 100 yards and a TD in that game, but the overarching idea is that a versatile QB can create mismatches, even against a tough opponent).
I’m not calling for the upset, but I’m also not going to underestimate Daniels. I don’t have many shares of him: I loaded up on McLaurin, and I’m moving forward without an ounce of fear.
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Where McLaurin Ranks Among 2026 Wide Receivers
- Tee Higgins | CIN
- Jaylen Waddle | DEN
- DeVonta Smith | PHI
- Ladd McConkey | LAC
- Emeka Egbuka | TB
- Terry McLaurin | WAS
- Tetairoa McMillan | CAR
- Garrett Wilson | NYJ
- Luther Burden III | CHI
- Parker Washington | JAX
- Christian Watson | GB
Analysts Jason Katz and Kyle Soppe rank every wide receiver on PFN’s 2026 PPR Consensus Board.
