{"id":733263,"date":"2026-02-06T11:03:16","date_gmt":"2026-02-06T11:03:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/733263\/"},"modified":"2026-02-06T11:03:16","modified_gmt":"2026-02-06T11:03:16","slug":"panthers-wr-tetairoa-mcmillan-named-2025-ap-nfl-offensive-rookie-of-year","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/733263\/","title":{"rendered":"Panthers WR Tetairoa McMillan named 2025 AP NFL Offensive Rookie of Year"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The 22-year-old started all 17 games for the Panthers and quickly became <a class=\"nfl-o-cta--link nfl-o-cta--underline\" style=\"word-break: break-word\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nfl.com\/players\/bryce-young\/\" title=\"Bryce Young\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Bryce Young<\/a>&#8216;s most reliable target, producing 70 receptions for 1,014 receiving yards and seven touchdowns. McMillan more than doubled the next leading WR in Carolina and his contributions as a rookie helped pace a Panthers club that won the NFC South and ended a seven-season postseason drought.<\/p>\n<p>McMillan&#8217;s season totals accounted for 30.7% of Carolina&#8217;s receiving yards in 2025, which was the sixth-highest percentage in the NFL in 2025 and the third-highest by a rookie on a playoff team since the 1970 merger, per NFL Research.<\/p>\n<p>With a graceful route-running capability, reliable hands and a 6-foot-5 frame, McMillan served as Young&#8217;s field-stretching target, averaging 14.5 yards per reception (27 of his 70 catches went for 16-plus yards, which led all rookies). While he consistently produced each start, McMillan&#8217;s breakout performance came in Week 11 after notching eight receptions for 130 yards and two TDs in an overtime win against the Falcons, all of which stand as his single-game highs.<\/p>\n<p>The Panthers appear to have struck gold with McMillan, a University of Arizona product whose crowning achievement on Thursday only heightens his promise in Carolina.<\/p>\n<p>McMillan is the sixth wideout to win AP NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year since the turn of the century, joining <a class=\"nfl-o-cta--link nfl-o-cta--underline\" style=\"word-break: break-word\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nfl.com\/players\/garrett-wilson\/\" title=\"Garrett Wilson\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Garrett Wilson<\/a> (2022), <a class=\"nfl-o-cta--link nfl-o-cta--underline\" style=\"word-break: break-word\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nfl.com\/players\/ja-marr-chase\/\" title=\"Ja&#039;Marr Chase\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Ja&#8217;Marr Chase<\/a> (2021), Odell Beckham (2014), Percy Harvin (2009) and Anquan Boldin (2003).<\/p>\n<p>He&#8217;s also just the second Panthers player to earn the honor in franchise history, joining Cam Newton (2011).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The 22-year-old started all 17 games for the Panthers and quickly became Bryce Young&#8216;s most reliable target, producing&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":733264,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[3],"tags":[1227,787,260,7,88,6,609,1453],"class_list":{"0":"post-733263","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nfl","8":"tag-around-the-nfl","9":"tag-breaking-news","10":"tag-carolina-panthers","11":"tag-football","12":"tag-news","13":"tag-nfl","14":"tag-no-minute","15":"tag-tetairoa-mcmillan"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116023355253259415","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/733263","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=733263"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/733263\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/733264"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=733263"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=733263"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=733263"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}