The Washington Commanders will be without wide receiver Terry McLaurin on Sunday for the Week 4 matchup with the Atlanta Falcons, coach Dan Quinn said. McLaurin sustained a quad injury during last week’s win over the Las Vegas Raiders, and the Commanders labeled him as a non-participant in practice from Wednesday through Friday.
The quad issue will hold McLaurin out of a game for the first time since Week 16 of the 2020 season. It snaps a streak of 72 consecutive regular-season appearances for the typically durable receiver who led the Commanders in receiving each of the last six years.
“He’s working as hard as he can to come back from it,” Quinn said. “He’s putting all the work in. I would say he’s week-to-week as we’re hitting it and see what next week brings and where he’s at. When it turns, then it goes quicker. So we’ll just see where he gets into next week.”
McLaurin, a two-time Pro Bowler, is seeking additional opinions on the injury, according to NFL Media, which he suffered on an explosive 56-yard catch in the third quarter of the Week 3 win. He departed from the contest after that reception and did not return.
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McLaurin picked up steam in his third outing of the year before the quad issue disrupted his momentum. He nearly matched his production from the first two weeks of the year combined in three quarters of action, and for the year, he is up to 10 grabs on 17 targets for 149 yards.
Luke McCaffrey, Deebo Samuel and Zach Ertz figure to be the focal points of the Washington passing game in McLaurin’s absence. McCaffrey hauled in a 43-yard touchdown grab after McLaurin left last week’s game and sealed the victory with his big play. Samuel leads the team with 16 catches and Ertz paces the Commanders with two touchdowns.
Poor injury luck has already struck the Commanders less than a month into the season. They were one of the many teams hit by the wave of quarterback injuries in the early going as Jayden Daniels hurt his knee and sat out in Week 3. He will be on the bench again this week as Marcus Mariota gets his second straight start. Mariota filled in for the second-year standout and was fabulous in his fill-in role, leading the offense to a 41-point explosion.