{"id":689794,"date":"2026-01-19T23:11:15","date_gmt":"2026-01-19T23:11:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/689794\/"},"modified":"2026-01-19T23:11:15","modified_gmt":"2026-01-19T23:11:15","slug":"pff-names-tetairoa-mcmillan-rookie-of-the-year-for-offense-or-defense","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/689794\/","title":{"rendered":"PFF names Tetairoa McMillan Rookie of the Year for offense or defense"},"content":{"rendered":"

It has been a very busy January in the National Football League per usual. The regular season ended on January 4, and there have been 10 playoff games since. There have also been numerous head coaching changes, as well as a pair of hires with the Giants (John Harbaugh) and Falcons (Kevin Stefanski).<\/p>\n

Earlier this month, the folks at Pro Football Focus <\/a>handed out their annual awards. Unlike the ones presented by the Associated Press and other outlets, they name one NFL Rookie of the Year regardless of position. This season, that honor went to Carolina Panthers\u2019 wide receiver <\/a>Tetairoa McMillan.<\/p>\n

\u201cMcMillan<\/a> finished his 2025 campaign with 1,044 receiving yards on 70 catches from 122 targets, explained PFF\u2019s Trevor Sikkema<\/a>, \u201cplaying and starting in all 17 regular-season games. Among all wide receivers, his total yards and targets ranked 15th, and he finished 34th in receptions. Among rookies, he ranked first in receiving yards and targets, and he finished third in total receptions (behind tight ends Tyler Warren<\/a> and Harold Fannin Jr.).”<\/p>\n

Warren totaled 76 catches for the Indianapolis Colts, while Fannin racked up 72 grabs for the Cleveland Browns.<\/p>\n

\"McMillan<\/p>\n

Dec 21, 2025; Charlotte, North Carolina, USA; Carolina Panthers wide receiver Tetairoa McMillan (4) and quarterback Bryce Young (9) celebrate after a play during the second half against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers at Bank of America Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jim Dedmon-Imagn Images | Jim Dedmon-Imagn Images<\/p>\n

\u201cMcMillan also led all rookies,\u201d added Sikkema, \u201coutside of quarterback (on both offense and defense), in PFF\u2019s <\/a>wins above average metric (WAA) with a 0.56. He cleared the next rookie on the list \u2013 tight end Colston Loveland \u2013 by 0.08 wins above average. This is due to a combination of volume, consistency and high-end play.<\/p>\n

Of course, unlike Warren and Fannin, the eighth overall pick in last April\u2019s draft was part of a playoff team as the Panthers won the NFC South for the first time since 2015.<\/p>\n

On February 5, we will know who is walking home with the league\u2019s awards via NFL Honors.<\/a> It would be somewhat of a surprise is McMillan wasn\u2019t named NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year.<\/p>\n

– Enjoy more free Panthers coverage with Carolina Panthers on SI –<\/p>\n

Panthers predicted to snag Bryce Young replacement in draft<\/a><\/p>\n

Falcons pass on Ejiro Evero, but it\u2019s not ideal for the Panthers<\/a><\/p>\n

Panthers should replace Ejiro Evero with Sean McDermott<\/a><\/p>\n

NFL\u2019s RB rankings show two top-30 backs on Carolina Panthers<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It has been a very busy January in the National Football League per usual. The regular season ended…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":689795,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[2075],"tags":[235,260,2567,7,6,236],"class_list":{"0":"post-689794","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-carolina-panthers","8":"tag-carolina","9":"tag-carolina-panthers","10":"tag-carolinapanthers","11":"tag-football","12":"tag-nfl","13":"tag-panthers"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/115924297395526503","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/689794","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=689794"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/689794\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/689795"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=689794"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=689794"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=689794"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}