To no surprise, Tetairoa McMillan will turn pro this spring. The junior wideout has declared for the 2025 NFL draft as expected. 
McMillan enjoyed a stellar career at Arizona, and his receiving yardage total (3,423) marks the school’s all-time record. He posted 1,319 yards and eight touchdowns on 84 catches in 2024, essentially a duplication of last year’s output. His production made him a strong candidate for the Biletnikoff Award (given to the country’s top receiver), although that honor went to Colorado’s Travis Hunter.
Still, McMillan was named a first-team All-American by the American Football Coaches Association, in addition to first-team All-Conference honors. The 6-5, 212-pounder confirmed his status as one of the top receiving prospects in the country over the course of the 2024 campaign, and it comes as no surprise he has elected to turn pro at the first opportunity to do so. McMillan will not need to wait long to hear his name called.
ESPN’s Mel Kiper ranks McMillan as the No. 2 receiver prospect in this year’s class (behind only Hunter), placing him 11th overall. It remains to be seen if Hunter will be used as a wideout, a corner or both at the NFL level, but in terms of players who strictly fit the WR description McMillan could easily find himself as the top player selected. Any number of NFL teams could use an infusion of size and productivity at the position.
Missouri standout Luther Burden III has also declared for the draft as expected, and he is another Day 1 candidate at the receiver spot. His size and profile is much different to McMillan’s, and NFL teams may establish a preference of one over the other during the pre-draft process. In any case, both playmakers will face considerable expectations at the NFL level in 2025.
The Patriots badly need offensive line help, but man this would be an enticing pick for them—and a lot of other teams. Only so many receivers come along with this build and actual ability to play the position.
Hunter could conceivably play either position, but not conceivably both. Outside of a few snaps at the opposite position, no NFL team is going to gamble on having a player that exposed to injury in the professional leagues. My feeling is that he’ll end up as a wideout, but if he doesn’t, than McMillan could very easily end up the top receiver off the board.
The thing that McMillan has over both of these guys is size. Teams looking for a boundary receiver should look his way. Burden is exceptionally talented, but could work underneath more than McMillan does. Both players are talented enough to move around, but that size should be a boon to a team lacking it on the boundary.
My moneys on chargers patriots or titans to make up for taking Burks lmao