The Washington Commanders’ miserable season just got worse. Terry McLaurin was carted off the field with a left knee injury late in the first quarter of Monday night’s game against the San Francisco 49ers and was ruled out for the rest of the contest.
Terry McLaurin (Credits: ESPN)
A Sickening Non-Contact Injury
The injury happened on a third-and-9 with 2:16 left in the first quarter at Levi’s Stadium. McLaurin ran a route down the left sideline, and as he broke toward the first-down marker, his left leg appeared to buckle. He tangled with 49ers cornerback Deommodore Lenoir, went to the ground and immediately grabbed at his knee in significant pain.
After lying on the turf for a few minutes, the team’s medical staff placed a vacuum splint (air cast) on his left leg before helping him onto the cart. Players from both teams came over to wish him well as he was taken to the locker room.
Another Blow for the 31-Year-Old Star
The sight was a gut punch for Commanders fans. The 31-year-old two-time Pro Bowler had only recently returned to full health, having missed Washington’s Week 4 loss to the Indianapolis Colts with a hamstring injury. He bounced back with four catches for 62 yards against the New York Giants in Week 5, and told ESPN sideline reporter Laura Rutledge this week how happy he was to finally be healthy and help the team out of its slump.
Before this season, McLaurin was a model of durability — five consecutive 1,000-yard seasons from 2020 to 2024 and a streak of 72 straight games played — but he missed seven games in 2025, snapping that streak. On Monday he had one catch for 27 yards before the injury, second on the team with 15 receptions and a team-high 230 receiving yards on the season.
With McLaurin sidelined, veteran Stefon Diggs is expected to see more targets, with Dyami Brown, Treylon Burks and Antonio Williams likely to get more snaps. NFL insider Ian Rapoport called it a potentially serious knee injury — and for a Washington team that reached the NFC Championship game in 2024, losing its No. 1 receiver could derail any hopes of a bounce-back season.
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Source: ESPN — read the full story there.
