No matter what happens on Sunday, when the Carolina Panthers need the Atlanta Falcons to beat the New Orleans Saints in order to win the division and make the playoffs, it has been a successful rookie season for wide receiver Tetairoa McMillan.
With the Week 18 game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the books following a 16-14 loss for the Panthers, McMillan has finished his first season in the NFL with 1,000 receiving yards.
McMillan tallied a team-high 84 yards on Saturday, which leaves him with exactly 1,013 for the season.
And, with his crossing the 1,000-yard mark, he becomes the first rookie wideout to accomplish that feat this season — and he might be the only one to do it.
The next closest rookie receiver to 1,000 yards going into Week 18 was Buccaneers wideout Emeka Egbuka, who entered Saturday's game with 930, but he only posted eight yards in the win over Carolina, so he has officially fallen short.
No other rookie wide receiver is even close to McMillan and Egbuka.
Drafted with the No. 8 pick in last year's draft, McMillan has been everything the Panthers could've hoped for and looks the part of the No. 1 wideout the Panthers thought they were getting when they drafted him.
As long as he continues to move in the right direction, the future is very bright for the Arizona product.
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