GLENDALE, Ariz. — Sunday was a homecoming, in a way, for two Panthers receivers in two completely different parts of their careers, the rookie and the veteran.

Tetairoa McMillan, the rookie whom the Panthers selected No. 8 overall in April, was back in Arizona, where he played college ball, just a short drive from where he grew up in Southern California, and a short(-ish) flight from where his extended family lives in Hawaii.

"Being so close to, just—God works in mysterious ways, you know, just somehow my, second ever game in the league is pretty much a place where I spent the last three years, so it's a homecoming for me," McMillan expressed after the Panthers' Week 2 game against the Arizona Cardinals.

"It's a close flight home, from Hawaii, so I'm fortunate enough to have both my grandparents here, my mom, pops, man, and it's just a blessing, I can't put it into words how grateful I am just to play in front of them."

For Hunter Renfrow, it was a return to the end zone. Renfrow was forced to take a year off in 2024 while he was treated for ulcerative colitis. The former Pro Bowl receiver made his return to the league last week, albeit with limited production, to the tune of two receptions for 11 yards.

On Sunday, he reminded the Panthers and the league just what he can provide for an offense. He pulled in two touchdowns on the day, helping spark a comeback. On both Renfrow touchdowns, he was able to lose his defender and get to a spot in the end zone, giving quarterback Bryce Young an open throw for the score.

The rally ultimately fell short, with the Panthers losing 27-22 to the Cardinals. But Renfrow's touchdowns not only welcomed him back to the end zone but also reminded Renfrow himself of what he can do.

"I mean, it'd been nice to have three and won the game, you know, but, yeah, I mean, it was good to be back out there," said Renfrow, who finished with seven receptions for 48 yards and the two scores. "It's good to be with a group of guys that are going to fight, and so it was just good to be back out there.

"I think it's good just to be back out there and try to feel like I can contribute. I think that's one thing—kind of the two things I missed not playing football last year: one was not being able to contribute, and then that instant feedback, right?

"And so you get those in football, you get those with the team, and so it was good to be out there and lean on each other and fight and know right away if it was good enough or not."

While Renfrow celebrated his first touchdown since January 7, 2023, in the Raiders' 2022 season finale (he had no touchdowns during the 2023 season) and his first multi-touchdown game since the 2021 season finale, the Panthers' rookie receiver was also establishing himself.

McMillan came into Sunday needing 70 yards to finish with the best two-game debut of any Panthers rookie receiver. As his family stood patiently on the sideline ahead of kickoff, waiting for the man they all flew to see, McMillan's mom was told that stat.

"Oh, don't worry," she immediately replied. "He'll get 100 today."

Mama always knows best.

McMillan finished with six receptions for 100 yards.

"That's all a credit to my teammates, my quarterback, and obviously, you know, the coaches, the play calling," McMillan said, sending the praise elsewhere. "They always just have a good plan for this offense, and it just comes down to us to execute. We got to finish games, we got to finish drives, and, you know, we'll go in tomorrow, look over film and see what we did wrong, see what we did right."

The performance not only gave McMillan a 100-yard receiving day in only his second game in the league—which was also the earliest in a respective career that a Panthers receiver has reached the century mark in a game—it was more than enough to give him sole possession of the best two-game start for a Panthers receiver in franchise history.

Through two games, he has 11 receptions for 168 yards. He was able to add to it on Sunday thanks to multiple explosive plays, including a 40-yarder that flipped field position and put the Panthers in position to get their first points of the day. He added to it with a 22-yarder and a 20-yarder, the latter of which set the Panthers up in the red zone. They scored four plays later.

"I have a ton of faith in him," Young said of his rookie receiver. "He's someone who works really hard, is doing a great job, obviously on Sundays but throughout the week as well."

McMillan and Renfrow may have come away with the headlines on Sunday, but they were also far from the only stories in the receiving corps. Tight end Ja'Tavion Sanders finished with seven receptions for 54 yards, Brycen Tremayne pulled in three catches for 48 yards, Chuba Hubbard got five through the air for 39 yards and a receiving touchdown, while Tommy Tremble added three catches for 20 yards.

Said Young, "I have faith in all my, the entire receiving corps. We have a great group, you know, we have what it takes on the outside too, it's just all of us putting it together."