One day in training camp, as the offense struggled, Washington Commanders wide receivers coach Drew Terrell didn’t like how his players were responding to the chest-beating defenders. The wideouts lost their bounce, slumped their shoulders and complained about being held. One word came to mind: composure.
For Drew Terrell, coaching WRs goes hand-in-hand with teaching about life
“When you bring in examples like that … it changes their humility,” Terrell explained. “They’re locked in, like, ‘Yeah, that’s some real s—.’ … How do you get guys to understand what they do? Be appreciative of what they do? Just give them examples of things that they can use in situations like that, when there’s chaos around.”
At practice, Terrell usually wears a hat, long-sleeve shirt and serious expression. He is understated and intense and often approaches players individually to discuss technique. Terrell doesn’t come from a military family — he became obsessed with the SEALs after watching videos in college of “Hell Week,” the notoriously grueling stretch of SEAL training — but his players describe him as methodical and exacting.
Terrell, 31, is one of the youngest position coaches in the NFL. He’s closer in age to his key players — Terry McLaurin, Curtis Samuel and Jahan Dotson — than his peers. His youth is occasionally apparent on the field, such as when he challenges his players to games of hot potato or when he celebrates their big plays with phrases such as “You’re him!” or “Got ’em!”
Terrell’s players compliment his intelligence, mechanical adjustments and mental preparation. But the root of his effectiveness, they said, is in his ability to relate as a former player and a young Black man. Terrell uses familiar cultural touchstones — he opened the wide receivers’ Aug. 24 meeting with a picture of Kobe Bryant — and McLaurin said he engages players by asking them to think. He recently told the room about Southwest Airlines’ “brown shorts” hiring method, which prioritizes attitude over skill, and ignited a debate by asking his players what they would look for in a prospective player.
Terrell’s blend of skill, youth and ambition to be a head coach makes him one of the most promising members of Washington’s staff. Last year, NFL.com named him one of its young coaches to watch, and during camp, Coach Ron Rivera said, “The future’s very bright for a young man like him.”
“He’s just getting started, really,” McLaurin said.
This season will be one of the greatest tests of Terrell’s young career. He has the franchise’s best receiving corps in years, perhaps the team’s most talented group behind the defensive line, and it’s his job to get those players to produce, to help maximize quarterback Carson Wentz.
“I preach this to the guys all the time: … You have to take respect from people,” Terrell said. “The potential and the hype and the excitement? Sure, it is what it is. But it could all be over quick if we don’t go do what we’re supposed to do.”
For years, the idea of being a coach irked Terrell. He starred at Hamilton High in Chandler, Ariz., and dreamed of playing on Sundays. But at Stanford, even as Terrell studied and trained and carved out a role as a depth receiver and punt returner, coaches saw his passion exceeded his ability. They teased him by calling him “Coach.”
“He knew everything,” said Philadelphia Eagles wide receivers coach Aaron Moorehead, who coached Terrell in college. “He understood where the ball was supposed to go versus certain coverages. He knew the running back’s [responsibilities], where the ball was supposed to hit, what gaps. … He was a quarterback in the receivers’ room.”
In May 2014, Terrell graduated, packed up his apartment and drove southeast to minicamp with the San Francisco 49ers. He spent three days wearing the NFL jersey he had worked toward for years, and afterward, when it didn’t work out, Terrell felt at peace. He had willed his dream as far as it could go.
Back home in Chandler, considering what to do next, Terrell spent the first extended stretch of his life without football going on four- and five-mile runs. Arena League? Canadian Football League? Law school?
Ultimately, he missed the game too much and called his old coach. Moorehead had offered him a job as a graduate assistant, and Terrell joined him at Virginia Tech and began the tedious work. Terrell assisted coaches with various tasks — once sleeping at the office for a whole week while helping build a new playbook — and found he liked coaching more than he expected. He liked helping players, repurposing the lessons he spent years learning.
Quickly, Terrell scaled the ladder. In 2015, he joined his former head coach, Jim Harbaugh, at Michigan, and two years later, he met Commanders offensive coordinator Scott Turner, then a Wolverines offensive analyst. In 2018, Turner and Terrell left for the Carolina Panthers, and in 2020, after the Rivera regime fell apart in Charlotte, Terrell traveled with most of the staff up to Washington, where he became an assistant wide receiver’s coach.
Last season, Washington promoted Jim Hostler to senior offensive assistant, and Terrell started to lead the room. He curated a distinct style by infusing technical lessons, such as how to run certain routes against certain coverages, with accessible anecdotes from his favorite books and podcasts.
Over the summer, he read “Think Like a Monk,” which included the story of Biosphere 2, an earth science research facility in Oracle, Ariz. One discovery the scientists made was how trees would reach a certain height in the facility before simply falling over. The trees hadn’t experienced enough natural wind, so the roots had never grown strong. Terrell, who once never wanted to be a coach, now couldn’t stop thinking like a coach: He made a PowerPoint about Biosphere 2, highlighting the importance of adversity.
Last season, wide receiver Dyami Brown hit a rookie wall midseason, with one catch on two targets in eight weeks. But in late December, he ran a post route against Dallas all-pro corner Trevon Diggs and made a leaping snag in double coverage for a 48-yard gain. Brown credited Terrell with helping him regain confidence and break out of his funk.
“Everything just comes back to confidence and that trust that we have with each other,” he said.
This season, Terrell needs his unit to start fast. He needs a reliable second option to finally emerge opposite McLaurin. The team has candidates in Samuel, Dotson and Brown, and the wide receivers seem to have absorbed Terrell’s message. In three interviews, wideouts, unprompted, said they needed to maintain “composure.”
Now, in the final weeks before the regular season, their coach needs them to maintain it in the face of expectations.
“We can change that narrative every Sunday,” Terrell said. “Whatever the perception is … I want to see you guys go do it and prove it for yourselves.”
Source: WP
