Panthers Insider Hypes Tetairoa McMillan, Says WR 'Better Than Advertised' at Camp

Carolina Panthers wide receiver Tetairoa McMillan has been "even better than advertised" during his first pro training camp, according to a team source who spoke with NFL insider Jordan Schultz.

"Smooth, explosive, and already gaining trust from the QBs," the source told Schultz. "You can’t take your eyes off him at practice because he’s making so many big plays.”

The Panthers had already expressed high expectations for McMillan after selecting him out of Arizona with the No. 8 pick of the 2025 draft.

McMillan, who checked in at 6'4" and 212 pounds earlier this summer, ranked 11th in FBS with 85 catches for Arizona during his junior season.

Head coach Dave Canales told Josh Graham of North Carolina radio station WSJS last Friday that McMillan will continue getting a sizable target share in training camp.

"He's going to get targeted a lot. He's going to be a big part of what we do offensively, particularly in the pass game," Canales told Graham. "We're going to challenge him. We're going to stress him in a bunch of different ways, and I know that's going to pay dividends for the team long-term.

"We're not going to back off and shy away from that. We're going to allow him to show us what he can do, and we're going to find out things maybe he hasn't done before that we can add to his game as we go. My expectation for him is just, the things we ask you to do, just take them and dominate one piece at a time, and then we'll continue to add to the arsenal."

In his latest update on McMillan's progress, Canales told reporters he was impressed with McMillan's ability to bounce back and learn from some early struggles to make plays against Panthers cornerbacks like Jaycee Horn, Mike Jackson, Corey Thornton, Shemar Bartholomew and Akayleb Evans.

McMillan could be seen beating out Jackson in a one-on-one during Monday's practice in a video from Carolina Sports Live's Gabe McDonald.

"There's a really good competition in the corner room, and these guys are all big. They're all over six feel, they're all over 200 pounds," Canales said at the 3:30 mark of Wednesday's press conference. "So that's a good recipe against big receivers, so he's got his hands full every day, and it's bringing out the best in him. Today, I thought, was his best day of camp."

The Panthers will hope McMillan's development at training camp will help both him and third-year quarterback Bryce Young take another step forward this fall.