The Browns are walking into Sunday’s home opener with a rookie receiver who has already forced the conversation to change.
Denzel Boston has been a hit in Cleveland, and the numbers are doing the talking. He’s the first player since 1976 and just the fourth in NFL history to catch a 45-plus-yard touchdown in each of his first two career games. For a team that still has questions swirling around Deshaun Watson, Boston has given the Browns something cleaner and far more exciting to hang their hat on.
Now comes the useful part: a chance to study a near-perfect comp.
When Cleveland hosts the Carolina Panthers in Week 3, the Browns will see second-year wideout Tetairoa McMillan, a player who looks a lot like Boston in body type and style. Both are listed around 6-foot-4 and 220 pounds, and both have been clocked near 4.50 in the 40.
The difference is that McMillan entered the league with a higher draft slot and without the same speed concerns attached to Boston. But the on-field overlap is hard to miss.
McMillan showed right away last season that he could use size and stride length to overwhelm defenders and get loose downfield. Panthers coach Dave Canales has done a strong job putting him in positions to win, and that part of the tape could be useful for Todd Monken as he looks for more ways to tap into Boston’s game.
The usage numbers line up, too. McMillan’s 14.8 average depth of target as a rookie was close to Boston’s 15.8, though Carolina was more aggressive in feeding him the ball.
He averaged 7.2 targets per game. The Panthers also lined him up in the slot more often, which may not be the Browns’ preferred route with Boston, especially alongside first-round rookie KC Concepcion.
Monken has already appeared to use Boston in a way that resembles how he got Mike Evans involved with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. That comparison has been easy to make, but McMillan might be the cleaner blueprint.
And Boston’s early production has already pushed back against the old knock that he couldn’t separate. His average separation score is 0.167, eighth-best in the league and just behind Concepcion. That’s not far off McMillan’s 0.184 during his Offensive Rookie of the Year season in 2025.
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