McMillan finished his 2025 campaign with 1,044 receiving yards on 70 catches from 122 targets, playing and starting in all 17 regular-season games. Among all wide receivers, his total yards and targets ranked 15th, and he finished 34th in receptions. Among rookies, he ranked first in receiving yards and targets, and he finished third in total receptions (behind tight ends Tyler Warren and Harold Fannin Jr.).
McMillan also led all rookies, outside of quarterback (on both offense and defense), in PFF’s wins above average metric (WAA) with a 0.56. He cleared the next rookie on the list – tight end Colston Loveland – by 0.08 wins above average. This is due to a combination of volume, consistency and high-end play.
McMillan trailed only Loveland (1.86) and wide receiver Luther Burden (2.69) for the most yards per route run among rookies (1.84) while playing 150 receiving snaps more than Loveland and more than doubling Burden’s snap count. McMillan also recorded the most explosive plays (15 yards or more) with 30. As for his overall receiving grade, his 79.4 mark trailed only Loveland and Burden.
It was a tough year to narrow down a rookie of the year. If the regular season had gone on another few weeks, there’s a good chance Loveland would have taken this award due to his impressive second half of the season. Fannin was also a standout player, finishing top five in receiving grade and top three in contested catches while forcing the most missed tackles after the catch (22) among the rookies. Fannin’s teammate on the other side of the ball, linebacker Carson Schwesinger, was also a contender for this award, earning a 74.4 overall defensive grade to go with an 81.1 run-defense grade. He also recorded the highest WAA score for any rookie defensive player, though it wasn’t close to that of some of the top offensive guys.
Saints quarterback Tyler Shough made a strong run at this award, earning a 75.0 overall offensive grade with the highest WAA score among rookies at 1.12 this season. He earned a single-game grade above 70.0 in six of his 10 games since becoming the starter. However, playing in just 10 games, compared to McMillan’s full season, is why McMillan ultimately earned PFF's Rookie of the Year award.