{"id":264633,"date":"2026-02-06T13:24:23","date_gmt":"2026-02-06T18:24:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/?p=264633"},"modified":"2026-02-06T13:24:23","modified_gmt":"2026-02-06T18:24:23","slug":"tetairoa-mcmillan-rookie-of-the-year-panthers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/2026\/02\/06\/tetairoa-mcmillan-rookie-of-the-year-panthers\/","title":{"rendered":"Tetairoa McMillan Was Inevitable: The 2025 Offensive Rookie of the Year"},"content":{"rendered":"

Tetairoa McMillan<\/a> has now become the fourth Carolina Panthers player to win Rookie of the Year, and just the second offensive player since Cam Newton<\/a> in 2011 to earn the honor. I can\u2019t say that I\u2019m shocked.<\/p>\n

Tetairoa McMillan Was Inevitable: The 2025 Offensive Rookie of the Year<\/h2>\n

<\/smartframe-embed><\/p>\n

The Drops, the Growth, and What the Numbers Actually Say<\/h3>\n

Three months ago, this author called it in a previous article<\/a>, back when fans were wondering whether McMillan was getting figured out. During the season, there were seven games in which Tetairoa failed to eclipse 50 receiving yards. Another issue that surprisingly popped up was drops. McMillan was credited with eight drops this year, tied for the sixth-most in the NFL. Drops are always magnified, but several of his came at costly moments. Through missed touchdowns and lost chunk plays that could have swung games. The advanced stats back that up, showing his drops ranked among the most damaging in the league in terms of lost Expected Points Added (EPA).<\/p>\n

Confidence Never Wavered Inside the Building<\/h3>\n

Drops are common for rookie wide receivers, and to McMillan\u2019s credit, they were never an issue in college. Unfortunately, the timing of his drops hurt the Panthers\u2019 win probability in key moments. The good news is that the issue is widely viewed as correctable. If he cleans it up in 2026, McMillan has a real chance to become a more reliable, elite target and take another significant leap in production.<\/p>\n

McMillan\u2019s struggles never deterred the Panthers, though. Head coach Dave Canales put it best:<\/p>\n

\n

\u201cHe\u2019s shown a lot of confidence and belief. He\u2019s had some pretty bad plays and some excellent plays. When guys bounce back quickly, it speaks to their confidence.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

That confidence showed up in a big way. McMillan finished the season leading the Panthers and all NFL rookies in receiving yards. His role expanded as the year went on, and by season\u2019s end, he was clearly the team\u2019s No. 1 receiver.<\/p>\n

From Learning to Leading: What Comes Next for McMillan<\/h3>\n

His play didn\u2019t just catch the attention of Panthers fans \u2014 it caught the attention of the GOAT of receivers, Jerry Rice. During Super Bowl week, Rice discussed McMillan and used one word that stood out: foundation<\/em>.<\/p>\n

\n

\u201cHe has a great foundation. The first year, you\u2019re learning\u2026 now you can just go play football.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Like Panthers fans, Rice is expecting a big sophomore season from McMillan. But for now? Young man, enjoy this award. You\u2019ve earned it.<\/p>\n

Congratulations to Tetairoa McMillan, the 2025 NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Tetairoa McMillan wins NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year. A breakdown of his drops, growth, analytics, and what\u2019s next for the Panthers star.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5698,"featured_media":264739,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[30],"tags":[7661,33031],"class_list":["post-264633","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-panthers","tag-panthers-featured","tag-tetairoa-mcmillan"],"modified_by":"Drew Crabtree","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/264633","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5698"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=264633"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/264633\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":264740,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/264633\/revisions\/264740"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/264739"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=264633"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=264633"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=264633"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}