ASHBURN, Va. (AP) — Terry McLaurin, who had eight catches and 39 yards in the first two games of the season, made it seem like the Washington Commanders were under-utilizing their highest-paid player.

Now, nearly halfway through quarterback Jayden Daniels' rookie year, McLaurin ranks fourth in the NFL with 579 yards receiving and is on pace for the most productive season of his professional career. He and the team are 6-2 for the first time since entering the league in 2019, and there's a chance McLaurin will get more ball in the second half as the Commanders hunt for a playoff spot.

“Every game with a guy like that, you end up saying to yourself, 'I wish we could have given him more,'” offensive coordinator Kliff Kingsbury said Thursday. “He’s a guy, every week you want to make sure the ball is in his court when the money is on the table.”

At the beginning and for long stretches of the game, the ball didn't go to McLaurin. Daniels tried, throwing the ball to Washington's top receiver eight times in Week 2, but it didn't do much good.

What's the difference since then? In McLaurin’s eyes, “patience.”

“I’m just having some patience and trusting that the work we’ve done since the offseason will show,” McLaurin said. “Patience was the key. Obviously Jayden was a lot more prepared as a rookie than most, but at the same time there’s obviously still a learning curve.”

Daniels is a quick learner and has emerged as a heavy favorite to win AP Offensive Rookie of the Year honors. Despite only having a handful of games of experience at this level, the 2023 Heisman Trophy winner appears to have found a balance by not forcing shots on McLaurin.

“If the defense allows it, I know when to give him the ball,” Daniels said.

Eighteen different receivers have been targeted more than McLaurin this season, but the 29-year-old, who has played with a dozen QBs during his time in Washington, isn't the type to make a scene about demanding more attention.

“He never asks,” Kingsbury said. “He never comes back and complains. He never gets to the quarterback. He's just doing his job. And when that guy does that and blocks and plays without the ball, then everyone else falls in line, and that’s kind of the beauty of him.”

That doesn't mean you don't want to rely on McLaurin, who makes more than $24 million. Quite the opposite.

“I just want to continue to be the guy for our offense where we need a play and they trust me to do that,” McLaurin said. “It was really fun playing with (Daniels) and the rest of the receiver group we have because every week it seems like someone else is going to make a play to help us win, so white I know that not everything can be traced back to me.”

It was Noah Brown on Daniels' Hail Mary touchdown that defeated Chicago. But on the play just before, McLaurin caught a 13-yard pass and went out of bounds near midfield, making everything possible.

That reception gave him 40 receiving yards for the season and put the Ohio State product on track to surpass 1,200 yards in a season for the first time. It's no coincidence that Kingsbury is now in charge of an offense that is the third-best in the league and has scored the third-most points.

“He allowed me to really develop a part of my game that I always felt was there, which was the deep balls up the field,” McLaurin said. “Being able to add that to our offense and my arsenal was huge for me personally, but as a collective group I think we did a good job of just trying to make plays on the field and he will provide us with ample opportunities to do that.”

___

AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/nfl

Copyright © 2024 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, written or distributed.