How much can Commanders fine Terry McLaurin for missing mandatory minicamp?

This time last week, Washington Commanders fans truly would have settled for anything to distract from the Jack Del Rio controversy.

A potential scuffle at practice. More Jahan Dotson praise. JD McKissic snatching more teammates’ ankles. Another no-look sidearm pass from Carson Wentz. Anything to take away Del Rio’s wholly unnecessary political firestorm.

This, however, does not meet the criteria. And by this we mean Terry McLaurin expected to continue his contract holdout during mandatory minicamp, which will run from Tuesday to Thursday before the team breaks for a mini vacation.

The news was first reported by the Washington Post’s Nicki Jhabvala and confirms McLaurin will continue missing valuable on-field reps with Carson Wentz. Though not ideal, we would avoid smashing the panic button until we get closer to training camp, which has always been the expected timetable for an agreement.

Ironically enough, McLaurin missing camp while his reps negotiate a contract extension with Washington could result in him losing money. Since minicamp is mandatory, McLaurin risks being fined by the Commanders for no-showing.

How much money can the Commanders fine Terry McLaurin if he misses all of mandatory minicamp?

The NFL collective bargaining agreement allows teams the ability to fine players for missing mandatory minicamp. There’s been no indication as to whether the Commanders will fine McLaurin, but the 2019 third-round gem risks losing upwards of $95,000 (!) by missing all three practice sessions.

Should this report manifest itself, Washington could fine McLaurin a maximum of $15,980 for the first practice, $31,961 for the second and $47,936 for the third, bringing the max sum for all three days to a whopping $95,877.

While the Commanders and McLaurin remain far apart in talks, would it really behoove the franchise to disgruntle its star pass-catcher further by denting his wallet … when money is the reason we’re here in the first place and the 26-year-old phenom is currently expected to earn just a $2.79 million base salary in 2022?

Definitely not, especially when you consider the Eagles negotiated a $100 million extension for AJ Brown before agreeing to trade for him.

It’d be best for both parties if cooler heads prevailed and they continued negotiating a long-term contract for McLaurin.  While it’s unsettling McLaurin has yet to practice with Carson Wentz, we’re talking about a receiver who’s produced with QBs like Taylor Heinicke, Garrett Gilbert, Case Keenum, Colt McCoy and the late Dwayne Haskins throwing him the football over his first three seasons.

Regardless, the Commanders would be foolish to create more tension by fining McLaurin the maximum for missing camp. After all, how would it look if the team’s offensive cornerstone got fined a similar amount to Del Rio?