NFL: Chicago Bears at Carolina Panthers
Sep 13, 2026; Charlotte, North Carolina, USA; Carolina Panthers wide receiver Tetairoa McMillan (4) on the field in the second half at Bank of America Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Bob Donnan-Imagn Images Credit: IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect (Reuters)
It’s easy to overreact after NFL Week 1. What else can you do after waiting with bated breath for months on end when your favorite sport returns? Death, taxes and short-sighted fantasy football managers are the three guarantees in this life. So allow me to be the voice of reason: Panthers wide receiver Tetairoa McMillan is still Carolina’s No. 1 fantasy receiver, even after fellow wide receiver Jalen Coker outplayed the 2025 Offensive Rookie of the Year in a 59-37 Week 1 loss to the Chicago Bears.
Coker caught eight of his nine targets for 138 yards and two touchdowns on Sept. 13 in Charlotte. McMillan finished with five catches for 75 yards on eight targets and lost a fumble in the fourth quarter.
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How did Jalen Coker outplay McMillan?
Tetairoa McMillan vs. Jalen Coker: Week 1 reveals Panthers' No. 1 fantasy football receiver
IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect (Reuters)
Chicago piled up 552 yards and scored two touchdowns in every quarter, so Carolina spent the afternoon throwing to keep pace. Quarterback Bryce Young completed 23 of 37 passes for 361 yards and three touchdowns, and the Panthers trailed 31-24 at halftime.
The Bears played mostly man coverage. In that scheme, defenses often put their top cornerback on the other team’s No. 1 receiver. McMillan had one catch for 14 yards in the first half, while Coker kept winning his matchups and scored on a 51-yard deep ball from Young.
The Holy Cross product did it after he rolled his left ankle in the first quarter, and he still played 84% of the offensive snaps. He practiced fully on Friday and has no injury designation for Sunday.
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Tetairoa McMillan still Carolina’s top receiver
Tetairoa McMillan vs. Jalen Coker: Week 1 reveals Panthers' No. 1 fantasy football receiver
IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect (Reuters)
The 2025 No. 8 overall pick started all 17 games as a rookie and caught 70 of 122 targets for 1,014 yards and seven touchdowns. That yardage was a Panthers rookie record and made up 30.7% of Carolina’s receiving yards.
Tetairoa McMillan won the Associated Press Offensive Rookie of the Year award with 41 of 50 first-place votes. He joined Cam Newton in 2011 as the only Panthers to win it. All that said, he’s still the driver of this offense. However, and I say this as someone who really believes in Coker this year, the best-case scenario is McMillan-Coker becomes a new version of Ja’Marr Chase and Tee Higgins. That is a big statement and is purely hypothetical. Let’s watch what happens in the coming games. But again, that’s if everything we saw from Coker in Week 1 continues.
A top fantasy receiver has to produce every week, and the former Arizona Wildcats wideout did that across all of 2025. He played 82% of the snaps in Week 1 and saw eight targets, just one fewer than Coker.
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What must Coker prove next?
Tetairoa McMillan vs. Jalen Coker: Week 1 reveals Panthers' No. 1 fantasy football receiver
NFL Carolina Panthers WR Tetairoa McMillan. IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect (Reuters)
Let’s rewind a bit for a second. Remember, Bryce Young isn’t going to finish as the QB3 and post over 30 fantasy points every week. That’s right, Week 1’s fantasy scoring leaders at QB were Caleb Williams, Josh Allen and Young. Even Young’s mama didn’t forecast that one to start the season.
So, we have to bear in mind the more realistic view: Young won’t be as good, Coker won’t be as good, and McMillan is the guy in Carolina. That was the conventional wisdom entering the 2026 season. Things change, players grow, but we need evidence first and foremost. We’re open to change, but we’re not making decisions based on what-ifs.
Coker has a much shorter track record. That’s really all it boils down to. He went undrafted out of Holy Cross in 2024, and a quad injury sidelined him early in 2025. Coker played 11 games that year and caught 33 passes for 394 yards and three touchdowns.
He closed that season strong. From Week 13 through the wild-card round, Coker drew 20% of Carolina’s targets to McMillan’s 18.3%. That stretch included nine catches for 134 yards and a touchdown against the Los Angeles Rams in the playoffs.
The third-year receiver now has back-to-back games with at least 130 yards, but that’s a two-game sample. Carolina visits the Atlanta Falcons on Sunday at 1 p.m. ET, and Atlanta’s defense allowed 4.1 yards per play in Week 1, tied for the fourth-fewest in the league. But that likely has more to do with the Pittsburgh Steelers’ mediocre offense than the Falcons being some defensive powerhouse.
McMillan is the safer weekly start for fantasy managers in Week 2, and Coker fits as a flex play until he strings together more games like his opener against Chicago. Coker is ranked at WR28 this week in my Week 2 fantasy football rankings, while McMillan is at WR18 with Atlanta on tap.
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Matt De Lima
Matt De Lima brings 15+ years of elite sports media experience to the table. From covering the gridiron to the hardwood, this Virginia Tech graduate has established himself as a versatile editor and writer for heavy hitters like Sports Illustrated and DraftKings. A twice-nominated FSWA finalist, Matt combines a digital-first philosophy with an eagle eye for breaking news, consistently delivering the engaging coverage today’s audience demands across the NFL, NBA, MLB, and beyond.
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