Across The Shield: Terry McLaurin Sets Commanders Record with Game-Winning Catch, Garrett Wilson and Jaxon Smith-Njigba Complete 100-Catch Seasons

Our jam-packed final recap of the regular season includes a record-breaking game-winner from Terry McLaurin, Cameron Heyward doing something he had never done before in his 14-year NFL career, Garrett Wilson and Jaxon Smith-Njigba achieving a notable receptions milestone, a look at all the Buckeyes who will participate in this year’s NFL playoffs, a look at the leading Buckeyes in each of the league’s major statistical categories and much more.

McLaurin breaks Commanders record with game-winner

Terry McLaurin set the Washington Commanders’ single-season record for receiving touchdowns with three seconds left to play in the regular season.

The former Ohio State wide receiver caught his 13th touchdown pass of the season and won the game for the Commanders in the process. McLaurin propelled the Commanders to the No. 6 seed in the NFC and earned them their 12th victory of the year with a leaping 5-yard catch in the end zone with just :03 left on the clock to give Washington a 23-19 advantage over the Dallas Cowboys.

CLUTCHHHHHHH

#WASvsDAL FOX pic.twitter.com/i5W55JC4JJ

— Washington Commanders (@Commanders) January 5, 2025

With his 13th touchdown catch of the season – six more than he ever previously had in an NFL season – McLaurin broke a tie with Ricky Sanders, Charley Taylor, Jerry Smith and Hugh Taylor for the most touchdown catches in a single season in Commanders history.

Game winner, record breaker

Terry McLaurin now holds the franchise record for most receiving TDs in a season pic.twitter.com/EfKrzayBe9

— Washington Commanders (@Commanders) January 5, 2025

Even with Commanders starting quarterback Jayden Daniels playing only a partial game because they had already clinched a playoff berth, McLaurin had eight total catches for 62 yards in the Commanders’ regular-season finale, bringing his season totals to 82 catches for 1,096 yards. In the process, McLaurin became just the fourth wide receiver in NFL history with at least 75 catches and 1,000 yards in five of his first six NFL seasons – hitting both of those marks in each of the last five seasons after catching 58 passes for 919 yards as a rookie – joining Brandon Marshall, Randy Moss and Torry Holt as the only receivers to hit both of those milestones in five of their first six years.

WR Terry McLaurin has recorded his 75th reception of the season. He becomes the only player in franchise history to record 75-plus receptions, 1,000-plus receiving yards and 10-plus touchdown receptions in a single season.

— Washington Commanders PR (@Wash_PR) January 5, 2025

Thanks to his game-winning touchdown catch, McLaurin wins our Pro Buck of the Week award as Ohio State’s top NFL performer for Week 18, joining Nick Bosa as the only three-time winners of the award during the regular season.

Heyward bats down three passes vs. Bengals

The Pittsburgh Steelers finished the regular season with a fourth straight loss, but it wasn’t due to any lack of effort from Cameron Heyward.

The former Ohio State defensive lineman capped off his 14th NFL regular season by recording a career-high three pass breakups, including one on 4th-and-1 to force a Cincinnati Bengals turnover on downs. He finished the regular season with 11 pass breakups, the most of any non-defensive back in the NFL this season and five more than any other NFL defensive lineman.

Heyward, who also had 12 tackles for loss with eight sacks during the regular season, became the first NFL defensive lineman since Cameron Jordan in 2017 to record 10 tackles for loss and 10 pass breakups in a season, according to NFL Research.

Cameron Heyward is the only player this century with multiple seasons of 8+ Sacks and 7+ Batted Passes pic.twitter.com/dMWLsfp90F

— The 33rd Team (@The33rdTeamFB) January 5, 2025

Making his performance even more impressive, Heyward said after the game that he was battling the flu. But that didn’t stop from being disruptive all night in the Steelers’ eventual 19-17 loss.

Cam Heyward is STRONG

: #CINvsPIT on ESPN/ABC
: Stream on #NFLPlus and ESPN+ pic.twitter.com/JaOkpvbNHu

— NFL (@NFL) January 5, 2025

Wilson, Smith-Njigba top 100 catches

McLaurin wasn’t the only former Ohio State receiver to achieve a significant milestone in the final week of the regular season as Garrett Wilson and Jaxon Smith-Njigba both surpassed the 100-catch mark in Week 18.

Wilson secured his first 100-catch season in the league by catching four passes for 51 yards in the New York Jets’ season-ending 32-20 win over the Miami Dolphins, bringing him to 101 catches for 1,104 yards on the year. He finished the season tied for seventh among all NFL players in receptions and 14th among all NFL players in receiving yards.

Garrett Wilson is just the second player in Jets history to catch 100 passes in a season, joining Brandon Marshall in 2015 pic.twitter.com/V3HB72GkoW

— Jets Videos (@snyjets) January 6, 2025

Smith-Njigba finished his season with exactly 100 catches, tying the Seattle Seahawks’ franchise record for receptions in a season, as he caught four passes for nine yards in their 30-25 victory over the Los Angeles Rams. His 100 catches tied for the ninth-most in the NFL this year while his 1,130 receiving yards were the 12th-most in the league.

Marv has nearly identical rookie season to father

Marvin Harrison Jr. finished his first NFL season on a high note by catching five passes for 63 yards, including a 12-yard touchdown reception, in the Arizona Cardinals’ 47-24 win over the San Francisco 49ers.

Marvin Harrison Jr.
Thats all. Thats the tweet. pic.twitter.com/Ei3dN9CRxx

— Arizona Cardinals (@AZCardinals) January 6, 2025

As a result, Harrison finished the season with 62 receptions, 885 yards and eight touchdowns – nearly identical numbers to those his father, who became a Pro Football Hall of Famer, posted in his rookie season.

Like father, like son

Marvin Harrison Jr.'s rookie season:

Receptions: 63
Receiving Yards: 885
Receiving TDs: 8

Marvin Harrison Sr.'s rookie season:

Receptions: 64
Receiving Yards: 836
Receiving TDs: 8 pic.twitter.com/YMjkOgBk3q

— The 33rd Team (@The33rdTeamFB) January 6, 2025

Harrison’s eight touchdowns tied for the second-most among rookie receivers this season while his 62 catches and 885 yards both ranked fifth among first-year NFL players. Las Vegas Raiders tight end Brock Bowers led all rookies with 110 receptions while Jacksonville Jaguars wide receiver Brian Thomas Jr. led the rookie class with 1,282 receiving yards and 10 receiving touchdowns.

Coop’s first 10-sack season

Another NFL Buckeye who hit a milestone in the final week of the regular season was Jonathon Cooper, who completed the first double-digit sack season of his pro career as he reached 10.5 sacks for the year with his second-quarter sack in the Denver Broncos’ 38-0 win over the Kansas City Chiefs.

COOOOOOOOOOOP!

That's double-digit sacks on the season for @JonathonCooper7. pic.twitter.com/s8drBpOrPG

— Denver Broncos (@Broncos) January 5, 2025

Cooper’s sack against Carson Wentz, who started in place of Patrick Mahomes as the Chiefs rested most of their starters with the No. 1 seed in the AFC already locked up, helped the Broncos roll to a win that secured them the final wild card spot in the AFC. With the Broncos making their first playoff appearance in nine years, Cooper will make his NFL playoff debut when the Broncos play the Buffalo Bills at 1 p.m. next Sunday (CBS).

Postgame in the locker room with #Broncos LB Jonathon Cooper

People were counting us outIm just so proud of these guys man pic.twitter.com/lqSvxpjZYL

— Scotty Gange (@Scotty_G6) January 6, 2025

Hall carted off with knee injury

A tumultuous first year in the NFL ended with a significant injury for Mike Hall Jr. as the rookie was carted off the field with a knee injury early in the second half of the Cleveland Browns’ 35-10 loss to the Baltimore Ravens.

The injury was serious enough that an air cast was placed on Hall’s leg before he was carted off the field. No specific diagnosis for the injury was announced by the team; Browns general manager Andrew Berry said Monday that the injury will require a months-long recovery, but the hope is that Hall will be ready to play for the start of the 2025 season.

Hall, who was suspended for the Browns’ first five games of the season after an arrest stemming from a domestic dispute and later missed four more games with a knee injury, finished his first NFL season with 14 total tackles, three tackles for loss and one sack.

Stroud perfect in short stint

C.J. Stroud played only one drive in the Houston Texans’ regular-season finale against the Tennessee Titans, but that was enough for the former Ohio State quarterback to build some momentum entering his second NFL postseason.

Stroud completed all six of his passing attempts on the game’s opening drive for a total of 50 yards, culminating with a 2-yard touchdown connection between Stroud and Nico Collins.

12 DOIN' HIS THING

: @NFLonCBS / @paramountplus pic.twitter.com/1iNmPxliqy

— Houston Texans (@HoustonTexans) January 5, 2025

While Stroud wasn’t quite as consistent in his second NFL regular season as he was as a rookie, the former Buckeye still finished the season 15th in the league in passing yards (3,727) and tied for 15th in passing touchdowns (20) as he completed 63.2 percent of his passing attempts, all the while leading the Texans to a 10-7 record and the AFC South title for the second year in a row.

Zeke joins J.K. in L.A.

Ezekiel Elliott requested his release from the Dallas Cowboys last week with an eye toward joining another team for the playoffs, and he landed that opportunity on Monday when the Los Angeles Chargers signed him to their practice squad.

The #Chargers are signing RB Zeke Elliott to their practice squad, source said, with the hope that the former #Cowboys back gets up to speed quickly. pic.twitter.com/LPj9t4oBtu

Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) January 7, 2025

While it’s uncertain whether Elliott will be elevated to the Chargers’ roster for their playoff opener against the Texans on Saturday (4:30 p.m., CBS), they’d have two former Ohio State running backs on their roster if they call Elliott up as he’d join J.K. Dobbins, who rushed for 905 yards and nine touchdowns in 13 regular-season games as the Chargers’ lead running back.

Elliott rushed for 226 yards and three touchdowns on 74 carries in 15 regular-season games with the Cowboys.

17 Buckeyes in NFL playoffs

Not including Elliott, a total of 17 former Ohio State players are on the active rosters of the 14 teams that made the NFL playoffs for the 2024-25 season. The Texans lead all playoff teams with four Buckeyes on their roster, while the Commanders are second with three.

The full list of Buckeyes on playoff rosters, which only includes players who finished their college careers at Ohio State and who are currently on their team’s 53-man active roster:

AFC

Kansas City Chiefs: None
Buffalo Bills: Curtis Samuel
Baltimore Ravens: Malik Harrison
Houston Texans: Jeff Okudah, Cade Stover, C.J. Stroud and Tommy Togiai
Los Angeles Chargers: Joey Bosa, J.K. Dobbins
Pittsburgh Steelers: Justin Fields, Cameron Heyward
Denver Broncos: Jonathon Cooper

NFC

Detroit Lions: Taylor Decker
Philadelphia Eagles: None
Tampa Bay Buccaneers: None
Los Angeles Rams: Jonah Jackson
Minnesota Vikings: None
Washington Commanders: Jalyn Holmes, Marshon Lattimore and Terry McLaurin
Green Bay Packers: Josh Myers

While Taylor Decker’s Detroit Lions get a first-round bye after earning the No. 1 seed in the NFC, the other 16 Buckeyes will all be in action this upcoming weekend in the Wild Card round of the playoffs. The Texans and Chargers will face off in the first game of the weekend at 4:30 p.m. Saturday (CBS), giving Stroud another shot at beating Jim Harbaugh after going 0-2 against the former Michigan coach as Ohio State’s starting quarterback.

The full schedule for the Wild Card round:

Saturday

• 4:30 p.m., CBS: No. 4 Houston Texans vs. No. 5 Los Angeles Chargers
• 8 p.m., Prime Video: No. 3 Baltimore Ravens vs. No. 6 Pittsburgh Steelers

Sunday

• 1 p.m., CBS: No. 2 Buffalo Bills vs. No. 7 Denver Broncos
• 4:30 p.m., FOX: No. 2 Philadelphia Eagles vs. No. 7 Green Bay Packers
• 8 p.m., NBC: No. 3 Tampa Bay Buccaneers vs. No. 6 Washington Commanders

Monday

• 8 p.m., ABC/ESPN: No. 4 Los Angeles Rams vs. No. 5 Minnesota Vikings

Season Leaders

With the regular season now complete, we take a look at who led Ohio State’s contingent of NFL players in various statistical categories this season. Again, the list only includes players who completed their college careers at Ohio State, so it does not include Joe Burrow, who led the NFL in passing completions, attempts, yards and touchdowns (460 completions for 4,918 yards and 43 touchdowns on 652 attempts) this season.

• Passing Yards: C.J. Stroud (3,727)
• Passing Touchdowns: C.J. Stroud (20)
• Rushing Yards: J.K. Dobbins (905)
• Rushing Touchdowns: J.K. Dobbins (9)
• Receptions: Garrett Wilson (101)
• Receiving Yards: Jaxon Smith-Njigba (1,130)
• Receiving Touchdowns: Terry McLaurin (13)
• Tackles: Pete Werner (92)
• Sacks: Jonathon Cooper (10.5)
• Tackles for Loss: Nick Bosa (15)
• Quarterback Hits: Nick Bosa (24)
• Interceptions: Malik Hooker and Denzel Ward (2)
• Passes Defended: Denzel Ward (19) – most in NFL
• Forced Fumbles: Joey Bosa (2)

Full stats for NFL Week 18 and the 2024 regular season for every Buckeye who played in at least one game this year can be found in the table below compiled by Eleven Warriors researcher Matt Gutridge.