I will be the first to admit that former Arizona Wildcat Wide Receiver Tetairoa McMillan is such an interesting prospect that I have even fawned the idea of him landing in Carolina with the 8th pick in the 2025 NFL Draft. Instead, I believe we as a team have gotten past Tetairoa becoming that X receiver, in favor of still focusing on the defensive side of the ball. “I love our wide receiver room,” said Panthers GM Dan Morgan at the end of February at the NFL Combine in Indianapolis. While Tetairoa continues to also be the most mocked person to the Carolina Panthers, I am resigning myself to the idea that QB Bryce Young will be expected to execute the offense akin to “game manager” in San Francisco, QB Brock Purdy.
2025 NFL Season
Moving ahead of the season, QB Bryce Young is entering yet another year with the rebuilding Carolina Panthers, yet this time it feels different. Younger wide receivers like Jalen Coker, Xavier Legette, T.J. Luther, Dax Milne, Brycen Tremayne are entering the year with large shoes to fill as aging WRs Adam Thielen and David Moore try to inspire this core group. Last year, the Panthers were one of the worst defenses ever due to the insane amount of injuries that plagued the team, from Pro Bowler Derrick Brown, to LB Shaq Thompson who spent all of his career in Carolina, only to be released by the team on February 24, 2025 after over 123 games during his 2015-2024 tenure. As the offseason has shown with signings being focused on the defensive side of the ball first, before adding RB Rico Dowdle, resigning TE Tommy Tremble, OT Brady Christensen, and C Austin Corbett.
You Might Be Saying…..
What does this have to do with Tetairoa McMillan and the 8th pick in the upcoming draft?
Tetairoa said recently that he doesn’t enjoy watching film, and only watches them with his receiver group – yikes! Tetairoa might be in a position to say that, but the NFL teams that are exploring taking you top 15 in the draft might be now re-examining their positions on him, allowing the likes of WR Luther Burden III and WR Emeka Egbuka (a personal favorite of mine), to move ahead of him. While Tetairoa may have the size and arguably the speed, the need for improvement at the NFL level isn’t forgiving, often washing out guys who aren’t willing to commit to their craft, even such potential greats as QB Michael Vick who has since admitted that his lack of film watching hindered his game.
As the Dave Canales-led team progresses into the 2025 NFL preseason, I believe that Canales will reveal to us his real reason as to why Tetairoa will not be picked by us at #8, and that’s what he’s going to ask Bryce to do. As we all saw last year, Bryce Young was benched for Week 3 of the NFL season, returning with a fire that Panthers fans had not seen in the NFL yet. During that time, some might say a “demon was unlocked,” or even “the Carolina Reaper is here,” but however you slice it, I believe that Canales saw his way to win. Run the ball, give DC Ejiro Evero pieces on the defensive side to keep it close and win those close games.
The season will begin with no major trades for a WR, nor an insane receiver taken in the first two rounds, so Canales, Morgan, and now money-guy Brandt Tilis to find some diamonds in the rough as they did last year with breakout UDFA WR Jalen Coker, mentored by another great UDFA WR in Adam Thielen. The formula is a simple one, with RB room that consists of Chuba Hubbard, a workhorse RB who is still ascending, and the added 1,000-yard rusher in former Dallas Cowboys RB Rico Dowdle, and of course, the 2024 RB out of Texas, Jonathon Brooks returns in 2026, you can see a way to control the ball. Bryce was already one of the most accurate players coming out of college, and the improved confidence post-benching must make Canales a happy man.
Canales will lean heavily on that newly re-tooled defense, and run the ball with Chuba and Rico as a tandem, allowing Bryce to develop the play action, opening up the opportunity for balls to make their way downfield when the time comes. If that’s the case, is this the role that we truly asked Bryce to do? Is relegating Bryce Young to game manager status the correct way to develop him? Dave does have a history of working with QB “projects” as they’ve been called, but here he’s asking to truly build his QB from the ground up.
Either way, Canales doesn’t seem to have a large desire for a DK Metcalf like he had in Seattle, nor a Mike Evans like he had in Tampa, but instead a great running game meant to stifle offenses and win the turnover battle. Tetairoa would be coming to a situation where he might be able to squeeze out 70 receptions and 800 yards a year, on a team that wins games in a way he’s not used to while wasting the pick on a position that the Panthers don’t deem worthy of such a high value.
So With the 8th Pick in the NFL Draft…
I don’t expect the Carolina Panthers to take Tetairoa McMillan, WR from Arizona, nor any other offensive player – instead, I believe a Mike Green, Jalon Walker, or Malaki Starks will end up in the Process Blue, to which I will welcome them with open arms. To Tetairoa, I’m sorry that Carolina doesn’t see the value in your game, but I think the team that does will ensure you’re a 1,000-yard receiver as a rookie – best of luck Tetairoa!
I’m sorry to all of my fellow Panthers fans, I want him as well, but if mocks prove correct, maybe we get him or his equivalent in the late first round via a trade-up instead.