Panthers Draft Tetairoa McMillan At No. 8

The Panthers were a candidate to trade down, and ESPN’s Adam Schefter reports Carolina fielded calls about doing so. Instead, Carolina has retained the selection.

Many felt Jalon Walker would be the team’s top choice, and he was on the board at No. 8. Surprisingly, neither Walker nor another defender is headed to Carolina. Receiver Tetairoa McMillan has been selected.

Tet is certainly worthy of an early-first-round selection following his standout career at Arizona. His numbers took a slight step back in 2024, but he still finished the campaign with 84 catches for 1,319 yards, a performance that definitively established him as one of the draft’s top wide receivers.

The Panthers have clearly been motivated to provide former first-overall pick Bryce Young with as many young targets as possible. The team used the No. 32 pick in last year’s draft on Xavier Legette, and the rookie finished the year with 521 yards from scrimmage.

While Young was mostly responsible for his benching last year, the team’s lack of dynamic receiver depth certainly didn’t help. Now, the signal-caller will be armed with a pair of highly-touted WRs, making this a crucial year for both Young and the Panthers offense.

McMillan will likely be penciled in atop the depth chart next to Legette heading into next season. Adam Thielen is still kicking around, and the Panthers are hanging on to the likes of David Moore and Jalen Coker. Those veterans shouldn’t provide the rookie with many threats for playing time, and there’s a chance Tet ends up emerging as the team’s top offensive weapon.

While WR was certainly a need for the organization, there was a belief that they’d ultimately settle for Walker. Although Carolina did not send a large contingent to Walker’s Athens pro day earlier this month, sources believed Dan Morgan and Dave Canales remained high on the intriguing front-seven piece, especially after the team failed to replace Brian Burns in 2024.

Adam La Rose contributed to this post.