SAN FRANCISCO—Let's go back in time, around 40 years, to 1986. Ronald Reagan was president, Halley's Comet was returning, and the San Francisco 49ers were facing the Los Angeles Rams in Week 2 of the NFL season. Yes, this was long enough ago that it was during the Rams' first stint in the City of Angels.

Jerry Rice was coming off a rookie campaign that saw him pull in 49 receptions for 927 yards and three touchdowns. He averaged 18.9 yards per catch that year, and legendary broadcaster Pat Summerall predicted when all was said and done, Rice would be one of the best ever to play the game. He was right, as Rice went on to become a 10-time All-Pro, two-time offensive player of the year, Super Bowl MVP, three-time Super Bowl champion, 13-time Pro Bowler, and six-time leading league receiver.

It wasn't until that Week 2 game of his second season, though, that Rice started to believe it was all possible. Rice had blown up on the national stage as a rookie against the Rams, pulling in 10 receptions for 241 yards and a touchdown on Monday Night Football.

But that 1986 game—in which he finished with six receptions for 157 yards and a score—proved to the young receiver that he could do it again.

"To be honest with you, the second year, I felt more comfortable," recalled Rice on Sunday, standing in the end zone of the Pro Bowl practice field in downtown San Francisco, arms crossed and rocked back on his heels, gold chain with a diamond 49ers football helmet hanging from the end swaying as he mentally took himself back to the mid-80's.

"I went into that game, I didn't have to think. I knew exactly what was expected of me and how I was going to respond."

By season's end, Rice had continued to respond at a rate that felt unstoppable for opposing defenses. That year, he had 86 receptions for 1,570 yards and 15 touchdowns, plus a rushing score.

It's why Rice, among many of the current stars in the NFL milling around him at Sunday's Pro Bowl practice, is uniquely qualified to offer advice to someone like Tetairoa McMillan. The Panthers' rookie receiver is coming off a dominant year in which he led all rookie receivers in almost every major category, and is a favorite to win offensive rookie of the year this Thursday at NFL Honors.

"The first year, you're learning," offered Rice. "You're learning. You're trying to get a feel for how you're going to contribute to the team and all that stuff. But the second year, you feel like you have that balance, that foundation. Now you can just go play football.

"And when you get to that point where you just can turn it into your own little playground, now you know that, 'Hey, look, I can go out there and play my best football.'"

McMillan, at times this season, looked like he was on his own personal playground, pulling in one-handed catches, outrunning defenders, and having his way streaking across the field, en route to 70 receptions for 1,014 yards and seven touchdowns.

"He's a tall receiver, and he knows how to control his body weight for a tall guy," noted Bengals receiver Ja'Marr Chase following the AFC portion of Sunday's Pro Bowl practice. "Not a lot of tall guys know how to do it, and he's one of them."

Chase was named rookie of the year for the 2021 season, after an 81-reception, 1,455-yard, and 13-touchdown season. It wasn't the stats that Chase feels won him the award, though, so much as being productive for his team all season.

"I think the biggest thing about being rookie of the year, just being consistent throughout the whole year," offered Chase. "I think that's (both) the hardest and the most easiest thing you can do to put yourself in position to winning rookie of the year just because you're a rookie coming in and everybody expecting—a lot of expectations and just holding yourself to who you are and just playing to your speed and just having fun, that's the biggest thing. And (TMac's) doing it."

Consistently showing up became the hallmark of McMillan's season and his potential rookie of the year campaign. He started every game this season, finishing with 18 total, including the postseason. That's a marked difference from college, which typically plays around 12 games, plus a bowl game. He was on the field for 87.8 percent of the Panthers' offensive snaps this season.

Rams receiver Puka Nacua, who played 87.1 percent of the Rams' offensive snaps in his rookie season as he burst onto the NFL scene, knows what the come down from that can feel like. It's why his biggest piece of advice for his counterpart is to take advantage of the next two months.

"I would say I definitely enjoy that break," Nacua offered as advice. "Take a moment to enjoy the fruits of your labor. You earned that, and nobody could take what you did away from you. But then also stay on the path that got you there.

"There is definitely a time to have a break, but also just to get back to work. I mean, there's always ways to be better. There's finding new ways to recover."

Nacua saw McMillan's impact as a rookie up close in both the Week 13 Panthers win over the Rams and the wild-card thriller between the two teams this postseason. And as someone who also topped the century mark as a rookie (105 receptions, 1,486 yards, and six touchdowns), Nacua couldn't help but watch with pride as his fellow Polynesian receiver made a very, very difficult transition look very, very easy.

"100 percent," Nacua answered vehemently as to whether it's harder to make that jump than people realize.

"The understanding of how the game moves, to be on the same page as your quarterback and the idea of, in college you play 12 games and the burden that it is to make it to 17 weeks and to get hit by guys who have been doing this at a high level for a very long time over and over, especially with the way he plays.

"He's very physical," he continued. "Defenses are aware that he's going to get the ball, so things do become challenging through the week. People watch film, they understand your tendencies and stuff like that. So the ability to continually and consistently go out there and perform at a high level is not easy to do."

Defenses did become more aware as the season wore on, tilting coverage to McMillan, particularly towards the back half of the season. It opened things up for Jalen Coker who grabbed the starting spot opposite field of McMillan and never let go. In the Panthers' last eight games (including playoffs), Coker had 35 receptions for 462 yards and four touchdowns.

Embracing that partnership, said Rice, will be the biggest factor in McMillan finding that same comfort he did in his second season.

"I think the formula is showing up and being accountable every day, leading by example, and also it comes down to making everyone better around you because this is not an individual game and you have to have that team support," explained Rice. "For me, even with John Taylor back in the day, John Taylor probably could have went anywhere and been that No. 1 guy.

"But he decided to be that No. 2 guy, which I never thought of him as being that No. 2, because he took so much pressure off me, and if they doubled me, then he was going to burn them in on one-on-ones and stuff like that.

"So yeah, it's just being part of that, supporting cast, leading by example, showing up, being accountable every day, and showing let everybody know that hey, look, I deserve to be on this football field."

That belief week in and week out, as Rice learned firsthand, is the most important factor in creating a rookie of the year candidate. Even more so, it's the most important factor in ensuring the success is not a flash in the pan, because as those in the small fraternity of dynamic rookie receivers know, that second season will allow no grace.

"My second year was for sure different," laughed Chase. "It was just a lot of different coverages. I got more double teams, so it was a lot more attention. Be ready for the whole defense to be looking at you."

When they look though, you can't blink. Trust what got you there and trust it will continue to carry you farther. That's the advice Christian McCaffrey, the man whose name now sits near McMillan's on many Panthers franchise records lists, wanted to offer to the young receiver.

"Someone like (McMillan) who's had so much success his whole life and then has a great rookie year, whatever you're doing is working," posed McCaffrey. "So I always enjoyed picking the brains of the veterans on the team who have been through their first offseason, but at the same time, you have to correct any mistakes that you made, and also capitalize on your strengths.

"You know that's what makes you you."