Bryce Young-Tetairoa McMillan chemistry surges in joint practice vs. Browns
There was one play during Wednesday morning’s joint practice between the Carolina Panthers and Cleveland Browns that made two of the most important people smile.
Those two people: Panthers head coach Dave Canales and quarterback Bryce Young.
The play: An incompletion.
So why so happy?
The play came during 7-on-7 work on a damp morning at the Panthers’ practice fields in Charlotte. Young fired a pass over the middle to rookie wide receiver Tetairoa McMillan, who had Browns cornerback Chigozie Anusiem in tight coverage. McMillan was headed for the corner of the end zone — but Young saw that the way to throw him open was to throw it to his back shoulder.
So Young went for it. And placed it perfectly. McMillan couldn’t haul it in — prompting an explosion from the Browns’ defensive sideline — but the Panthers’ head coach and his third-year quarterback still were pretty happy.
“I think that was a new one for TMac,” Canales said as he recalled the play. “He was like, ‘Oh shoot, this is a good spot for it.’ And Bryce saw it. I was excited about that. Bryce turned around to me, and we were both just smiling.
“We would love him to catch that ball. He will. But I just love taking those attempts down the field.”
Thus was the centerpiece of the morning for the Panthers’ offense against the Browns’ defense: Young being sharp, looking McMillan’s way a ton — and the No. 8 overall pick mostly proving reliable.
Three other plays come to mind when you evaluate McMillan’s day. The first was a redemptive one in that same 7-on-7s period. Two plays later, in fact. Young found McMillan on a crossing route in the end zone — a perfect, thread-the-needle pass that McMillan caught with a defender draped over him.
The next two times Young sought out McMillan came in 11-on-11 drills. The first came in the form of a miscommunication; it looked as if Young was expecting McMillan to run an out route but McMillan stuck on a dig. The very next play? Young hit McMillan on a 15-yard out route.
The final time the pair linked up was in another 11-on-11 drive, when Young appeared to change the play call at the line and find McMillan in the end zone — though it looked like the play might’ve been negated by an illegal procedure penalty.
Young acknowledged that the connection with his newly drafted receiver was alive Wednesday. But it was mostly a product of the offense “taking what the defense” gave them, the 24-year-old QB said.
“I have all the confidence in the world in him, and the rest of the receiving corps,” Young said. “Today, he probably got a few more targets. And there have been practices where it’s been him. It’s been Adam (Thielen), (Xavier Legette), Jalen (Coker), all the way down. … That’s just how it happened to be today.”
Panthers’ offense also shines with Jalen Coker, Chuba Hubbard
The Young-McMillan connection wasn’t the only thing that took center stage Wednesday.
The unit also thrived when Jalen Coker was targeted. Young found Coker on a 20-yard crossing route for a touchdown early in 7-on-7 work. The same period, Coker scored another touchdown — this time from Andy Dalton — after essentially plucking the ball off his defender’s shoulder pads after the defender didn’t turn around to see the jump ball. Coker caught another sliding 8-yard catch from Dalton that was thrown behind him.
The running game appeared to be solid. That included Chuba Hubbard and Rico Dowdle — who took roughly the same number of reps Wednesday — as well as Young, who scrambled into the end zone during 11s once. The offensive backfield had its most fireworks, however, after Hubbard caught a pass in the flat, was run out of bounds, exchanged a few words with a Browns defender and handed a Browns cornerback the ball — only for the Browns cornerback to throw it back at Hubbard’s head. A small scuffle ensued.
Overall, Canales — who spent Wednesday’s entire practice with the offense — said he was happy with the execution but wasn’t satisfied with the team’s pre-snap operational issues.
Specifically, he loved the energy and the run game in the first team period. But the second?
“And then in the second team period, it got sloppy,” Canales said. “We had, I think, three delay of games and two false starts. We can’t have that. We’re going to put ourselves in really bad spots when we’re putting ourselves in first-and-15. Or if its a third-and-6 and we have a false start; all of a sudden it’s third-and-11. It makes it really hard. Now you’re in the 20% or less conversion zone.
“So I was very excited about the physicality. I was very excited about the execution after the snap. Pre-snap, these opportunities really shine light on what you need to work on.”
Run defense, Mike Jackson look strong vs. Browns’ offense
The Panthers’ run defense was a thorn in the team’s side through the first two years of Ejiro Evero’s tenure as defensive coordinator.
This offseason, general manager Dan Morgan attacked that weakness with the signing of several ascending defenders in free agency. He also added outside linebackers Nic Scourton and Princely Umanmielen and nose tackle Cam Jackson in the draft to shore up the front seven.
On Wednesday, against the Browns’ offense, the Carolina run defense looked much improved if not dominant.
The unit, which did a nice job of group tackling, stopped Browns running backs at or around the line of scrimmage on nearly every rep in 11-on-11 drills.
Umanmielen made an impressive stop in the backfield by surging off the edge on a rep. Linebacker Trevin Wallace and outside linebacker DJ Wonnum met a ball carrier almost immediately on another. During individual reps, Jackson and free-agent addition, nose tackle Bobby Brown, looked menacing against the Browns’ offensive line.
In the passing game, the field was a lot more competitive.
Veteran Cleveland QB Joe Flacco was accurate with the ball, hitting his targets in the red-zone period pretty regularly. His biggest highlight came on a heave down the seam to Pro Bowl wideout Jerry Jeudy, who made a one-handed catch in stride for a huge gain. Jeudy left a couple of defensive backs in his dust on the play. Fellow Browns passer Kenny Pickett also made a very nice throw during 7-on-7 drills for a touchdown. Pickett hit wideout Cedric Tillman on a crossing route in the end zone for the score. Training camp star Chau Smith-Wade was the closest Panther in coverage on the rep.
The Panthers, though, had their share of highlights in coverage as well. With cornerback Jaycee Horn sidelined after a car accident he was involved in Wednesday morning, Shemar Bartholomew and undrafted rookie Corey Thornton took on most of Horn’s reps opposite Mike Jackson, who was a standout throughout the joint practice.
Jackson made a pair of pass breakups in 11-on-11 drills. His first came on the right sideline against Tillman, who stands 6-foot-3 and 215 pounds. Jackson used his length and wits to get in front of the receiver and knock the ball down. Later, Jackson attacked a ball from Flacco to Jeudy and knocked it into the air for an incompletion toward that same sideline. Jackson showed delayed hands, like a receiver, to win the rep and force an incompletion.
Bartholomew made a nice play on a pass from new Browns QB Tyler Huntley. In 11-on-11 drills, Bartholomew jumped a route in the flat and nearly came up with an interception. Had he caught the ball, he probably could have taken it the opposite direction for a pick-six. Linebacker Claudin Cherelus also made a nice pass breakup over the middle with rookie QB Shedeur Sanders targeting tight end Brendan Bates on a comeback route.
Quick hits
- Injury updates: Scourton (hamstring) returned to practice in full pads after missing the previous three workouts. He took part in team drills and actually looked quite comfortable in space while covering the flat on Wednesday. Wideout Hunter Renfrow (hamstring) and guard Chandler Zavala (hamstring) were still sidelined with their respective injuries.
- Cherelus, on the play following his pass breakup during 11-on-11 drills, got banged up in a tackling scrum toward end of the workout. Following practice, Canales said Cherelus is being evaluated for a groin injury.
- Horn, who was seen by The Observer in a sweater and sweatpants at practice, received some stitches in his left thumb following his car accident Wednesday, according to Canales. The Panthers say they won’t play Horn Friday against the Browns, but their hope is that he will be able to take part in the second preseason game at Houston on Aug. 16.
- Browns owner Jimmy Haslam was in attendance at practice. Haslam went out of his way to talk to former Tennessee Volunteers lineman and current Carolina center Cade Mays before practice. Haslam is a long-time booster for the Volunteers.
- Backup outside linebackers Thomas Incoom and DJ Johnson had some nice 1-on-1 reps against Browns deep-depth linemen Roy Mbaeteka and Kilian Zierer. Cam Jackson took third-string center Bucky Williams off his feet almost immediately in an individual rep.
- During tandem blocking drills, Wonnum and defensive tackle A’Shawn Robinson looked particularly proficient as a duo.
- Brycen Tremayne had a pair of touchdown catches against the second- and third-team Browns defenses. The first came via a pass from Dalton, who floated the ball across his body to a wide-open Tremayne; the second came from third-stringer Jack Plummer and required Tremayne to lay out. When asked if Tremayne has a shot at making the team or practice squad, Canales responded, “Absolutely.”
- “Super Men,” The Charlotte Observer’s full-length documentary about the 2015 Carolina Panthers, sold out on its opening night and will have three additional showings at Independent Picture House in Charlotte. The first will be at 1 p.m. Aug. 17. Tickets can be purchased at the Independent Picture House website.
- The 60-minute documentary will be immediately followed in the theater by the showing of a 30-minute video of coach Ron Rivera and Panthers players Luke Kuechly, Josh Norman and J.J. Jansen talking about the documentary and the extraordinary 2015 season, when the Panthers won 17 games and then lost in the Super Bowl to Denver. That all-star panel discussion was recorded on July 24, immediately after the documentary debuted at Independent Picture House.
This story was originally published August 6, 2025 at 2:30 PM.
