Tetairoa McMillan Gets No Love From NFL Personnel in Top 10 WR Ranking

You'd expect the 2025 NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year to get some attention. But Carolina's Tetairoa McMillan didn’t receive a mention, honorable or otherwise.

Jacksonville Jaguars cornerback Tyson Campbell (3) wraps up with Carolina Panthers wide receiver Tetairoa McMillan (4) on a play that was called back during the second quarter of an NFL football matchup at EverBank Stadium, Sunday, Sept. 7, 2025 in Jacksonville, Fla. [Corey Perrine/Florida Times-Union] | USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect

Earlier this week, ESPN wrapped up its annual series when it came to player rankings. A total of 11 different positions in which the network surveyed NFL executives, coaches and scouts to find the Top 10 performers at quarterbacks, running backs, off-ball linebacker, cornerbacks, etc. You get the picture.

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On Wednesday, the subject was wide receivers. The top three spots belong to Cincinnati Bengals’ star Ja’Marr Chase, Minnesota Vikings’ standout Justin Jefferson, and 2025 NFL Offensive Player of the Year Jaxon Smith-Njigba of the Super Bowl LX champion Seattle Seahawks.

As for the 4-10 slots, there’s Puka Nacua (Rams), Amon-Ra St. Brown (Lions), CeeDee Lamb (Cowboys), George Pickens (Cowboys), Nico Collins (Texans), A.J. Brown (Patriots), and Davante Adams (Rams), respectively.

Six other wide receivers were given honorable mention status, and 10 more performers received at least one vote. Do the math and that adds up to 26 wideouts mentioned by NFL front office personnel and coaches.

Panthers’ Tetairoa McMillan wasn’t mentioned in a recent WR survey

Tetairoa McMillan makes the Top 100 in his rookie season. 👏

His 8 REC, 130 Yard, 2 TD game against the Falcons last year: pic.twitter.com/xdinUvMKxx https://t.co/jyg4efw9iQ

— Football Performances (@NFLPerformances) June 30, 2026

So where’s the 2025 NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year? Roughly 15 months ago, Carolina Panthers’ president of football operations/general manager Dan Morgan used the eighth overall pick in the NFL draft on University of Arizona wide receiver Tetairoa McMillan. The 6’5”, 212-pound performer would upgrade Dave Canales’s pass-catching corps in a big way.

In 2024, the Panthers were the only team in the league not to have at least one player total at least 50 catches. That season, then-rookie Xavier Legette led the way with 49 receptions. McMillan changed that in a big way, leading the team with 70 grabs for 1,014 yards and seven touchdowns, with five of those scores coming in the team’s final seven games. And one year earlier, veteran Adam Thielen led Carolina with just 615 receiving yards.

There’s room for improvement for Panthers’ WR Tetairoa McMillan

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McMillan is not a finished product. His regular-season catch percentage, via 122 targets, was a so-so 57.4. That figures to improve in his second season, as well as other aspects of his games. It is worth noting that he and former undrafted free agent Jalen Coker combined to be an effective duo for quarterback Bryce Young down the stretch this past season.

For what it’s worth, the former Arizona Wildcat earned a pretty respectable ranking from Pro Football Focus. McMillan’s 79.3 grade was tied for 20th in the league with the Colts’ Alec Pierce, who was mentioned in the survey. And as noted, he also earned some attention by his peers, named the No. 87 player on the NFL Top100 list.

All told, if the 23-year-old wideout builds off his debut campaign, he figures to get plenty of attention from the league’s personnel in next year’s survey.