Tetairoa McMillan has learned a lot of lessons in his rookie season

Jan 06, 2026 at 06:24 PM

Darin Gantt

The Carolina Panthers prepare to face the Los Angeles Rams on Tuesday, Jan. 06, 2025 at Bank of American Stadium in Charlotte, NC.

CHARLOTTE — For all the gifts Tetairoa McMillan has shown on the field this season, he also has the ability to say a lot in a few words.

That's as rare as his catch radius.

The Panthers wide receiver, who has already set a franchise record, seems a likely favorite to win offensive rookie of the year, and is 1-of-1 going to the playoffs as a professional player, has learned a lot of lessons this season.

The biggest?

"I think the biggest thing I've learned is, I may not have the luxury of getting as much calls as I used to in college," he said with a grin.

Considering that the answer came after a questionable offensive pass interference last week in Tampa, which wiped out a 32-yard gain, that seemed like a very specific lesson at a very specific time in his young life.

"No, for sure, because it's different," McMillan said. "It makes me have to play my game differently. I just had to adjust to the league, and that's fine. That's totally fine."

Related Links

The adjustment has gone amazingly well.

The Panthers first-round pick caught 70 passes for 1,014 yards this year, with seven touchdowns.

That allowed him to break the Panthers' rookie records for yards (1,008 by Kelvin Benjamin in 2014), and to establish himself as what head coach Dave Canales calls "the focal point" of their offense.

He also led all rookies in receiving yards, which puts him in line for those postseason awards, but he shrugged at that, because even though he set a team record Saturday, the only thing he really had to celebrate was Tommy Tremble's touchdown, and the fact they got a favor the following day from the Falcons.

The Carolina Panthers face the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Saturday, Jan. 3, 2026 at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, FL

"Shoot, I mean, obviously it's a blessing," he said. "But out of all things that we were able to make the playoffs, we got a chance at doing something great in Charlotte that hasn't been done in a long time. So, I feel like, you know, that, that holds a higher power than me being the leading favorite for the offensive rookie year."

That's perhaps the salient point here. He's had ups and downs this season (mostly ups), but he and his rookie classmates don't know the struggle some have experienced here.

The Panthers haven't made the playoffs since 2017, and haven't hosted a game in the postseason in a decade. Long snapper JJ Jansen is the only teammate who has ever won a playoff game here, and right tackle Taylor Moton is the only other one who has appeared in a playoff game for this team.

So for McMillan, the current success seems like what it's supposed to be, which fits with his easy-going nature.

"I mean, I feel like I'm different just because it's my first year, so I don't know what it's like to miss the playoffs," he said. "I'm just grateful for every opportunity, man. We get to play another game and a chance at playing another game after that. So, just blessed."

His cool demeanor manifested itself on Sunday.

With their postseason on the line, a lot of them were glued to the Falcons-Saints game, but McMillan said he just waited on social media alerts and friends to text him with all the news he needed. He was watching a movie, but he was watching it so intently that he didn't remember what he was watching.

"No, I didn't watch it," he said of the Falcons' win, which created the three-way tie that allowed them to slip into the playoffs. "It was cool. I'm just glad, you know, we get another game, obviously, just being a lot of people in this locker room, first time playing in the playoffs. So that's obviously a blessing, just kind of giving back to us.

"I knew it was a lot. It was going to be a lot of suspense, and I didn't really want to put my body through that one."

Again, that kind of cool shows up elsewhere for McMillan.

In the regular season meeting against the Rams, he only caught one pass.

It just happened to be the 43-yard touchdown on fourth-and-2 in the fourth quarter for the game-winning points in the Panthers' signature win of the season. That's all.

But like a lot of things with McMillan, there's an easy grace when he thinks about what's at stake, even though this is his first time through and he's never known anything but setting records and going to the playoffs in his young career.

"I mean it's basically a whole new season," he said. "Anybody can win. Anybody can lose on any given day. And obviously, when the season ends, it ends abruptly. When you lose, you're out. So nobody wants to end in that way.

"So there's definitely a lot more to play for now, and I feel like the energy is going to be a lot higher."

1 / 36

The Carolina Panthers prepare to face the Los Angeles Rams on Tuesday, Jan. 06, 2025 at Bank of American Stadium in Charlotte, NC.