[PFF] Tetairoa McMillan Will Unlock Bryce Young and the Panthers Offense!

[Icege]

Summary

• The 2024 Carolina defense posted a 44.9 grade last year, which was the worst in the NFL since 2020. They also had the worst receiving grade in the NFL despite a QB that emerged in the second half of last year.
• TMac is most likely WR1 in this class and is now WR1 in Carolina
• He's going to be incredibly helpful on go balls, dig routes, and in the redzone. Highlights show just that:
  • First highlight is Arizona vs. Utah. 4 verts vs. cover-0, TMac lined up alone on a go ball vs. press = we're launching it
  • Second highlight shows his potential as the X. Runs a backside in-cut and the Tampa-2 MLB sells out on the corner route, leaving his back to TMac. Tough over the middle, explosive after the play. Sees TMac doing a lot of what Mike Evans was asked to do in Tampa.
  • Third highlight shows how effective TMac is in the redzone and it's his one-handed catch vs. Travis Hunter. Brings "indefensible plays." Has size advantage that can beat guys, can jump, and has ridiculous hands.
• Will help Bryce in year 3 as it will allow him to continue playing "fearless" like he did after coming back from benching. Highlights show where TMac fits and re-emphasizes how he's going to make things easier on go balls, dig routes, and in the redzone:
  • Fourth highlight shows Bryce vs. ATL when he hit AT vs. AJ Terrell down the sideline. Bryce has to hold the single deep safety during his drop to give Thielen a chance (who is only 4yds off of the LOS when Bryce is throwing it). Registers the big-time throw attacking vertically.
  • Fifth highlight is vs. KC on a blitz where Bolton is coming downhill while Karlaftis is dropping back over the middle. Has an in-route that has outside leverage with Chris Jones applying immediate pressure. Layered it over Karlaftis' head for the completion.
  • Sixth highlight is the fade route TD to David Moore vs. Zona. in the redzone. David Moore was the X on this play.

Thought this was interesting, especially considering recent conversations about Bryce's intermediate game needing to be better:

[Pejorative Miscreant]

I am optimistic that we might be on the verge of fielding a sustainable offense finally. The Bryce stats listed above are definitely encouraging. I don’t want to overly inflate this and disregard the previous 1 and a half seasons of production from Bryce and “cherry pick” stats but do hope the benching turns into an inflection point in his trajectory.   
 

Lots of excitement heading into this season. 

[thunderraiden]

My whole point in wanting T-Mac was because it unlocks the rest of the offense. Yeah, we were getting by when teams stacked the box with AT but that was it as our only reliable receiver.. and so teams just all out blitz and it not only hurt our pass game but it hurt our run game too as those blitz make it harder to run unless you perfectly block everyone on the first level.

[tukafan21]

[frankw]

The love/hate relationship with PFF here over the years amuses me greatly.

But I do appreciate this content. Training camp should be fun.

[AceMan]

It’s gonna take me a year or two to get used to all this PFF love

 

[Icege]

Couple of things to consider with the recent love from PFF:

• Eric Eager, the current Panthers' VP of Football Analytics, is a former writer and data scientist for PFF.
• The team has had seven consecutive losing seasons, so the fanbase is eager for any uplifting news.
• It's the offseason, so football writers are going to be diving into the numbers from last season to create speculative pieces to drive engagement during the offseason.
• Being hesitant to trust stats like BTT% but not TWP% might be less an issue with PFF and more of an issue with something else.