Tetairoa McMillan named potential All-Star pick by Panthers

The Carolina Panthers had the whole world convinced that they would take Georgia edge Jalon Walker if he was there at No. 8 overall in the 2025 NFL draft. However, to hear general manager Dan Morgan tell it, they never really considered anybody but "their guy," which turned out to be Arizona wide receiver Tetairoa McMillan.

While there are legitimate questions about a lack of top-end speed, it doesn't take long watching him to see why he wound up a top-10 overall pick. McMillan's size, soft hands and red-zone chops make him the receiver with the highest ceiling the Panthers have brought in for quite a long time.

No prospect - even a top-10 pick - is a sure thing at the highest level of the game, but McMillan has everything he needs to grow into a respectable long-term starter. Some believe his ceiling is much higher than that, though. According to Gary Davenport at Bleacher Report, Mcmillan is one of eight rookies coming into the league with Pro Bowl and All-Pro potential.

"It’s also a matter of opportunity. McMillan was drafted eighth overall for a Carolina Panthers team whose wide receiver room was headlined by an aging veteran in Adam Thielen and a disappointing youngster in Xavier Legette. As ESPN's Mina Kimes pointed out, there’s a clear path to McMillan becoming the top target for Bryce Young in short order... When talent meets opportunity, it often results in production. And production is what gets players a trip to Orlando."

NFL Commissoner Rodger Goodell, left, with Arizona Wildcats wide receiver Tetairoa McMillan selected by the Carolina Panthers as the number eight pick in the first round of the 2025 NFL Draft at Lambeau Field. | Mark Hoffman / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

If McMillan can get it done he'd be breaking a long and humiliating streak for the Panthers, who haven't sent a wide receiver to the Pro Bowl since Steve Smith in 2011.

There are of course things he'll need to work on, such as sharper cuts and a better get-off - but McMillan should be in a good place to improve in those areas with a former long-time wide receivers coach in Dave Canales as his head coach.

Of course that should also have applied for last year's first-round pick at wide receiver, Xavier Legette. He deserves more time to develop but if the Panthers were satisfied with Legette they would never have targeted McMillan in the first place. It just goes to show that dominating at the college level the way McMillan did is no guarantee of success in the NFL.

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