Star NFL Rookie Tetairoa McMillan Warns Rest of League

Carolina Panthers wide receiver Tetairoa McMillan got to see both Super Bowl teams up close in his rookie season. The New England Patriots and Seattle Seahawks both beat the Panthers handily back in the fall.

"Obviously, they're two teams deserving of where they are right now," McMillan told Men's Journal Wednesday. "Two teams that really embarrassed us this year. They both have really good defenses and obviously both have good offenses to back it up. It's going to be an interesting game. We'll see how the cards play out."

Obviously, the ultimate goal for McMillan, who was one of the NFL's best first-year performers in 2025, is to make it to the Super Bowl as a participant one day. For now, he'll have to settle for being part of SPAM's new ad campaign for the big game.

Not that that's a bad consolation prize who grew up eating the canned lunch meat.

"It's been a blessing just being able to be the first NFL athlete to partner with them," McMillan said. "SPAM is something I grew up on, something I ate pretty much my whole life and still to this day."

If you're wondering if McMillan is being honest about his affinity for SPAM, he quickly rattled off his favorite ways to consume it, including SPAM and eggs, SPAM with spaghetti (we'll take his word on that one) and SPAM with ramen noodles.

T-Mac made an immediate impact as a rookie

The No. 8 overall pick in the 2025 NFL Draft out of the University of Arizona, McMillan played in all 17 games in his rookie season, posting 70 receptions for 1,014 yards and seven touchdowns.

That output has him in position to potentially win NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year, though the Hawaii native isn't sweating the award.

"I don't need that award to validate anything," McMillan explains. "I know my worth and what I'm capable of. I'm just worried about what I can do for myself and the team. Whether I win the award or not, it's a blessing regardless of being in the position I am."

McMillan is currently in the early stage of his first NFL offseason. This year, he can focus on training and improving for Year 2 instead of being worried about the draft.

"I mean, shoot, I'm still as hungry as ever. I'm still young. I got a lot of ways to go," he said. "I want to play this game as long as I possibly can and do as much as I possibly can. So the mindset doesn't change. Obviously I want to come back. I'm thinking a lot better than I was my first year. So just trying to get to it and be as good as we can."

An early taste of success

Carolina won the NFC South this season, earning the franchise's first postseason appearance in eight years and first home playoff game in 10.

Despite the 34-31 setback against the Los Angeles Rams, McMillan, who caught five passes for 81 yards in the game, said playing in front of a home crowd in the postseason was an "electric" experience.

"I feel like that was good for us. Now that's just kind of the standard and now that's just kind of what we expect from ourselves and from our team," he said. "We saw this year that we were capable of doing incredible things and we're capable of making a playoff game. So, like I said, that's the standard now. We got to continue that and get used to winning."