CHARLOTTE — Panthers wide receiver Tetairoa McMillan is still waiting on his first NFL touchdown. And he puzzled about that for a bit. But he's stopped thinking about it lately.

That, in and of itself, is a sign of the maturity they see in him.

"I'm not really worried about it, man," McMillan said this week when the question came up. "God never makes a mistake, so when the time comes and it happens, it's meant to be."

McMillan has done everything but get in the end zone to start his career. The No. 8 overall pick has 24 catches for 351 yards in his first five games. Other than Tampa Bay's Emeka Egbuka (who's out there running around without Mike Evans or Chris Godwin), no first-year player has more receiving yards.

He's on pace for 1,193 yards this season, which would put him tied for 11th all-time among rookie receivers.

So his equanimity when it comes to touchdowns is interesting, and a sign of greater things.

Quarterback Bryce Young said McMillan has the bearing of a much older receiver already, something he saw early in camp.

"I think he just plays with such a feel to the game," Young said. "A lot of times, you expect that out of a veteran receiver, you expect a guy that's played a ton of snaps to know where to be, know the angles to break out, to recognize coverage, to have a little nuanced things when if it splits off from someone else or someone's running a different route. Having the feel of OK, I'm going to adjust to make them right. I'm going to feel the zone and make sure I adjust my depth to be where I need to be.

"That's stuff that he does a great job at, stuff that when you're out there, especially at the quarterback position, you recognize it. It jumps out immediately, so it's just one of the many assets he brings. You're like, OK, a rookie doesn't normally do that."

Young said early in OTAs, they were working on a particular play, and McMillan recognized one such nuance, and told Young he'd slow down his route to create space for another receiver on the other side of the play, so he didn't accidentally drag a defender into that guy's space.

"That's stuff, like rookies that come in, it's like what's the name of the route, what's my steps?" Young said. "And to immediately come in, have the feel, understand what's going on with the football IQ to do it, and to apply it full speed, that was probably one of the first things that I recognized."

There's also the simple matter of fitting in here, among a young group of receivers which includes last year's first-rounder Xavier Legette and Jalen Coker, fellow rookie Jimmy Horn Jr., and the rest. And in that fitting in, there hasn't been any pressure to make one particular play.

"He wants to get every catch, and I know this sounds like coachspeak, but he has not expressed, I'm dying to get my first career touchdown, that's not really his mental makeup," Idzik said. "That's why we love the guy. The guy goes out and makes plays at the receiver position. You have to be inherently — I wouldn't say selfish — but self-confident, right? You have to be in this world where I think I'm open every snap. I'm confident that I'm going to get open every snap. If you look at that play where Xavier caught the (touchdown last week), TMac was open. He did his job and got open as well. The ball went the other way."

And seeing McMillan celebrate with Legette — who needed a breakout game and a score himself — was another sign of what they like about him.

"So it's really cool just to watch this group of receivers," Idzik said. "Watch TMac's reaction after Xavier catches that ball, he's going right to him to do whatever that dance they got going, you know, which is also well planned out. They got a lot of handshakes going on over there. But just the joy that they have for each other, that shows me that their brain, their mental state, they're in the right place, and TMac is, for a rookie to have that mentality, for a guy who's had production but has not yet finished in the end zone for us, it's just fun to watch.

"And it's a maturity that's beyond his years, and that's a big piece of him. Even the draft process when we brought him in, you start to feel that from him. You're like, this guy, this guy's going to be special because he's about the right stuff, he's confident, but he does it in the right way, right? He does it in the right manner, and then the talent is obvious."

He's clearly having fun here.

He joked with reporters last week about his early connection with Young.

"Obviously, we spend every day together, so sometimes we get along, sometimes we don't," McMillan deadpanned, before quickly interjecting, "I'm playing."

"So the chemistry is there," he continued. "It's black and white when it gets on the field, so just being able to build that chemistry every single day and I feel like we we're getting better every single day.

"Obviously, my comfort level compared to that first game is a lot higher than than before, so I feel like I'm constantly getting confident every single day, every single game, and that's really just the preparation I put in and all the trust that you know my teammates have in me and the coaches have me and I have it myself."

And that's why they're confident that touchdown will come, sooner rather than later.