Tetairoa McMillan 2025 NFL Draft Scouting Report: Does 40 Time Matter for Arizona WR?
Arizona WR Tetairoa McMillan has come under increased scrutiny in recent weeks after electing to not run his 40 at the NFL Combine.
Tetairoa McMillan did not run a 40 yard dash at the NFL Combine.
This made people very angry.
Then, McMillan was left off the list of attendees at the Big 12 conference pro day, held at the Star in Frisco, TX. People got even angrier: what was McMillan hiding? Why was he scared to run?
As it turns out, McMillan simply elected to run the 40 at a private workout (NOT Arizona’s pro day, it must be noted. Arizona does not have their own pro day because they sent all of their athletes to the Big 12 conference day.) attended by most of the league’s teams, including - reportedly - Green Bay Packers general manager Brian Gutekunst.
Given the murky circumstances of the workout - the 40 time was the only reported result of the day, Gutekunst’s attendance was not reported until Friday, the only video of the event came from McMillan’s own YouTube channel and appears to have not even been located on Arizona’s campus - the time was…suspect. Reports had him as fast as 4.48 early in the day, waning to as slow as 4.57.
Some of you may know that I religiously track pro day results on my Patreon, using data provided to the NFL every week to ensure that the reporting is as accurate as possible. As of writing this on Friday, I don’t have McMillan’s official time. I currently have him at an unofficial mark of 4.53, pending my receipt of a more verified time from my league sources.
Here’s the thing: I don’t care what the time was. It doesn’t matter. Because McMillan is good as hell.
A native Hawaiian who moved to Southern California as a 12 year old, McMillan signed with Arizona alongside Servite teammates QB Noah Fifita (still at Arizona), LB Jacob Manu (now at Washington), and TE Keyan Burnett (now at Kansas). But McMillan was the crown jewel, the highest-rated recruit in Arizona school history.
He lived up to the hype immediately, leading all true freshmen with 702 yards and 8 touchdowns in 2022. By the time he left in 2024, he was Arizona’s all-time leading receiver.
I typically don’t like bigger receivers whose highlight reel is made up primarily of contested catches, so I wasn’t expecting to like McMillan as much as the media consensus. But once you turn on the tape, McMillan’s best trait is actually his smoothness as a route runner. He makes breaks without any wasted movement, is able to shake defenders with the slightest fake, and operates at such a high level for a college receiver.
Cornerbacks are often forced to play off on McMillan to respect the deep ball, and that gave him plenty of opportunity to showcase his skills underneath in 2024. His release packages and willingness to get physical at the snap or on breaks creates a level of separation that works in short and intermediate areas, almost the way a tight end would in those areas. McMillan does have experience in that sort of role, too - Jedd Fisch’s offense put him on the field as a detached H-back in 2022 and 2023, a trend on the rise in the NFL as well.
McMillan’s speed was never a hallmark of his game, and if the 40 time at his workout on Monday was indeed in the 4.5 range, that suits his play style just fine. He’s more of a build-up runner than an exploder, which limits his ability to create separation vertically. In college, he made up for that with his ball skills and contested catch ability, but in the NFL, I have some questions about how that will translate. That lack of raw speed also shows up after the catch, where he was caught from behind a number of times on some underneath throws that could have easily been housed.
For as big - 6’4 1/8” and 219 pounds - as he is, McMillan is also an exceptionally poor blocker. He prefers to face guard defenders on the edge rather than engage and at least make contact, which often left yards on the table when the play came to his side.
Any team that drafts McMillan will have to let him fail as a vertical contested-catch threat early and often or already have a high-level field stretcher in place. This is crucial to his success at the next level, because he’s at his best when defenses are forced to respect the threat of a deep ball. With as advanced and diverse he is as a route runner, he’ll easily be a contributor early. His fluidity for his size balances his lack of overall physicality, in my opinion, and I still think he’s worthy of entering the conversation in the back half of the top ten.
Grade: 8.40 (First Round)