Commanders' Kliff Kingsbury laments Terry McLaurin absence, others as offense struggles to find rhythm

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As anticipation continues to build for the Commanders’ 2025 season, Kliff Kingsbury is still waiting on the arrival of his offense.

The unit hasn’t experienced a ton of success in training camp and preseason action. Kingsbury has a simple explanation for their struggles: They aren’t fully stocked.

“That’s a work in progress,” Kingsbury said on Friday. “Until we get some of these other pieces back, we’re not going to know exactly what we are. … That’s something we have to get to over the next three weeks.”

The most notable missing piece is receiver Terry McLaurin, whose hold-in continues as Washington clears the midway point in August with little reason to believe it’s going to end soon. McLaurin remains on the physically unable to perform list due to an ankle issue, but everyone understands his absence is more about money than health.

“There hasn’t been a ton of contact with him,” Kingsbury said of McLaurin. “He’s been here, but he’s been working with trainers, so until he gets back on the grass, that’s when we’ll start building that back up.”

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While McLaurin is the only piece missing due to a contract dispute, Washington is also operating without both starting guards. Samuel Cosmi is still recovering from the torn ACL he suffered in the Commanders’ upset win over the Detroit Lions in the Divisional Round, and right guard Brandon Coleman has missed nearly two weeks after exiting practice with an injury near the start of the month.

Receiver Noah Brown has also had a tough time getting going after dealing with a knee injury that affected his participation in Washington’s offseason program and minicamp.

“You don’t have [the] projected top two outside receivers and both your projected inside pieces at guard,” Kingsbury said. “It’s not going to really give you the chance to jell or really build that relationship until you get everybody else on the grass.”

There are two sides to this coin in Washington. On one side, the lack of time spent together has robbed Kingsbury of the opportunity to understand how his offensive pieces might fit — which is especially important when considering they added Deebo Samuel to the equation in the offseason — prior to the start of the season. On the other side, however, is the tempered optimism that comes with continuity. Thanks to their time spent together in 2024, Kingsbury isn’t attempting to familiarize an entire offense with a new scheme.

Still, no two teams are ever identical. Each season is a new journey that requires the organization to complete a preparatory process prior to the start of the campaign, and the Commanders are losing valuable time right now.

Kingsbury remains hopeful they’ll reunite in time to get up to speed before September.

“It’s just time on task, and luckily they had last year to build a lot of rapport and chemistry and Terry understands our system going into Year 2, so that should expedite the process,” Kingsbury said. “But to me, time on task together on the grass is really the only way that you can continue to build.”

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