What Tetairoa McMillan pick means for Panthers' 2024 first-round selection

Xavier Legette has to step up now with another first-round WR in the house.

2025 NFL Draft Prospect Tetairoa McMillan, wide receiver at Arizona, speaks to the press after the Play Football Prospect Clinic event on Wednesday April 23, 2025 in the Titletown District in Ashwaubenon, Wis. | Jovanny Hernandez / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Tetairoa McMillan is the first top-10 wide receiver picked by the Carolina Panthers in history. They have never spent a top-20 pick on a wide receiver, either. They've typically picked wide receivers in later rounds, with DJ Moore (24th) and last year's first-round pick Xavier Legette (32) being notable standouts. Kelvin Benjamin (28) was another late first-round pick.

This only matters for one of those people, though: Legette. He's still on the roster, and the Panthers said as recently as a few weeks ago that they believe he can be the DK Metcalf-type player in their offense, hence why they didn't aggressively pursue that trade.

Still, it's no secret that Legette was underwhelming as a rookie. Some would argue that he was outplayed by fellow rookie but UDFA Jalen Coker. Some would even say he's the third-best receiver on the team. He might be fourth-best now.

McMillan still has to prove himself, but the message from the Panthers is crystal clear. They believe in this offense, but they think it lacks in wide receivers. That is not the best thing to hear from the team that just traded up into the first round to pick you just last year.

Legette has a bright future ahead of him, and truthfully, a trio of the future that includes Coker, Legette, and McMillan is incredibly exciting. But Legette shouldn't be the third-best player in that trio, and he shouldn't be being overlooked just one year after his selection.

He and the team know he has work to do, and he just might have a little bit more motivation to get better now. The former South Carolina product is someone the Panthers like, but they clearly don't love him enough to pass on another elite WR prospect. That could spur him to heights he never would've reached.

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