Analyze Terry Mclaurin's matchup for week 11
McLaurin has missed two straight games with a quad injury, played only 47 % of snaps when he tried to return in Week 8, and faces a 9:30 a.m. London kickoff in Week 11. Even if he suits up, Deebo Samuel has overtaken him as Washington’s top WR and a snap-count limit plus travel fatigue make him a bench-only play.
Washington’s trip to London pits a banged-up McLaurin against a Miami defense that has allowed the 10th-fewest WR fantasy points, but the real story is usage. Through three healthy games McLaurin averages 4.3 targets and 49.7 yards while Samuel commands 34 catches and three scores. The cross-Atlantic short week, uncertain QB health with Jayden Daniels also dinged, and the looming Week 12 bye give Washington every reason to hold McLaurin out or cap his snaps, vaporizing any weekly floor or ceiling.
Missed Weeks 4-7, reinjured quad in Week 8 on a 47 % snap share, and has now sat Weeks 9-10; target share has fallen from 23 % in 2024 to 14 % when on the field in 2025.
McLaurin’s quad strain is a classic soft-tissue flare-up: he tried to play through it in Week 8, immediately aggravated the muscle, and now faces a condensed week that includes a trans-Atlantic flight and a 9:30 a.m. ET kickoff—conditions notorious for hamstring and quad setbacks. Washington has already signaled it may give him two more weeks of rest via the Week 12 bye rather than risk a third setback. Even if the medical staff clears him, offensive coordinator Kliff Kingsbury has re-orchestrated the pass game around Samuel’s yards-after-catch ability, leaving McLaurin in a low-volume, low-aDOT role that produced only one top-40 WR week in three tries. Add in the Dolphins’ man-heavy coverages that demand explosive cuts at the stem—exactly the movement a weakened quad struggles to support—and the path to fantasy relevance is razor-thin. Finally, with Jayden Daniels nursing rib and ankle issues, Washington could lean even heavier on the ground game and quick perimeter screens to Samuel, further capping McLaurin’s already-shrunken target ceiling. Until the bye week passes and he strings together full practices, McLaurin belongs on fantasy benches in all single-start formats.