Bryce Young isn’t sounding like a quarterback trying to be polite. He’s sounding like a quarterback who knows exactly what he has in Tetairoa McMillan.
Speaking with Pat McAfee, the Panthers’ QB was full of praise for the second-year receiver after McMillan kept rolling in Week 4 against the Detroit Lions. McMillan turned in a monster line: 14 catches, 192 yards and two touchdowns in Carolina’s 32-26 win on Sunday Night Football.
That outing also put McMillan in rare Panthers company. He became only the second player in franchise history to post at least 175 receiving yards and two touchdowns in a game. The other was Steve Smith Sr., who had 178 yards and two touchdowns in Week 1 of the 2011 season against the Arizona Cardinals.
McMillan’s season is off to a blistering start. Through four games, he has 26 receptions for 385 yards and two touchdowns, and he’s tracking well beyond the 70-catch, 1,014-yard season he put together last year.
That 2024 campaign was already good enough to earn him the 2025 Offensive Rookie of the Year award, while also leading all rookies in receiving yards, receiving yards per game and touchdown catches. He also set the Panthers’ franchise record for most receiving yards by a rookie.
Young has been right there with him, helping drive Carolina’s early surge. He and offensive coordinator Brad Idzik have produced 22 scoring drives in the first four games, the most for the franchise since 2000. At 2-2, the Panthers have every reason to feel good about where the offense is headed.
Young’s own numbers are strong, too. He’s thrown for 1,268 yards and nine touchdowns while completing 62.3% of his passes. That comes in a season where he’s making $12.1 million in the fourth year of his rookie deal, with Carolina already picking up his fifth-year option worth a guaranteed $25.9 million.
The bigger picture is impossible to miss. The Panthers didn’t work out an extension with Young, so he still has to keep proving himself if he wants to cash in next offseason. Right now, he’s giving them plenty to think about.
That’s a sharp turn from where things stood not long ago. Young was benched for Andy Dalton in 2024, and plenty of people assumed his time in Carolina was finished. Instead, he kept grinding, earned his way back, and helped lead the Panthers to the playoffs last season before the home loss to the Los Angeles Rams in the wild-card round.
Now Carolina is heading into its bye week, with Young and McMillan set to return on October 18 against the Philadelphia Eagles. After winning the NFC South last season, the Panthers are trying to show they can do it again.
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Bryce Young Is Giving Panthers Fans A New Way To Clap Back
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Robert Griffin III added fuel to that shift by publicly calling for apologies to Young from the people who labeled him a bust, a sentiment Panthers supporters have been eager to embrace. For a team and fan base that spent so much of last season defending the quarterbacks long-term outlook, Youngs growth has created a new kind of comeback narrative, one that lets Carolina clap back with performance instead of projection. [Read more 🡒]