Dynasty Football - What Separates Jalen McMillan?

Separation. Welcome back to the blog.

It seems like just yesterday that we focused on our beloved, beautiful, Jalen Coker, and the fellow Coke heads ate that shit up. Now it seems like the day after, and well, we have another 2nd year Jalen on our hands. And I promise, he's equally enticing. Back before the 2024 rookie draft, I was doing my pre-draft research in hopes of finding the smoothest of unpolished gems, and it was then that I stumbled upon a guy that I wound up grading with 2nd round talent - Jalen McMillan. I just kept looking into the kid, and the kid just continued to check boxes one after the other, in a similar manner to Jalen Coker. Washington Receiving in 2022: Jalen McMillan - 1098 receiving yards , 9 TDs Rome Odunze - 1145 yards, 6 TDs. Ja'Lynn Polk? 694 yards, 6 TDs. If you came out of 2022 believing Jalen McMillan was the #1 receiver on a nice Huskies squad, you wouldn't have sounded too crazy at the time. Then 2023 rolled around, where McMillan found himself battling an MCL sprain throughout the season, missing four games and struggling to produce across the 11 contests in which he played, only posting 559 yards with 5 TDs. And as his stock fell to the power of the almighty force of nature that is Recency Bias, Odunze and Polk quickly found theirs on the rise as they picked up the slack. Although Polk capitalized on McMillan's lack of presence in 2024 and found himself drafted in the 2nd round, make no mistake - Polk was never a better WR than McMillan. Odunze, sure, but not Polk. There were a bunch of false narratives and contextual issues surrounding this kid, and we can address the main one - "Jalen McMillan isn't athletic." Athleticism

https://www.mockdraftable.com/player/jalen-mcmillan

Looking at his RAS, a few metrics immediately stand out: 61st percentile 40 YD Dash 64th percentile 10 YD Split 83rd percentile Broad 69th percentile Nice Vertical

Much like Coker, McMillan really excels at drills that reflect explosiveness, and that's exactly what you want to see in a WR. But unlike Coker, McMillan also has a really strong 40 yard dash time of 4.47 for his mediocre height of 6'1, giving McMillan upside on not only short and intermediate routes out of the slot, but also on deep routes. We like to think of McMillan as a slot receiver, but he has the juice to play on the outside between good speed and great jumping ability, and I wouldn't be surprised if he winds up in the Z receiver role in the near future with Egbuka entering the fold. Then we have a bunch of slightly-above average metrics: 61st percentile shuttle 55th percentile 3-cone 61st percentile 20 YD split And sure, they're not exactly elite by any stretch, but they're also well-above average. Being a good athlete doesn't require 90th percentile scores across the board - that would be an uber-athlete. There's one thing for certain, though, and that's that Jalen McMillan is certainly not unathletic. Oh, and did I mention he has some decent 57th percentile arm length? Coker - 32.875

Brian Thomas - 32.75 Rome Odunze - 32.25 Jalen McMillan - 32.125 Xavier Worthy - 31.125 Also of note, is Jalen McMillan has some elite hand size coming in at the 87th percentile. Strong hands are always a plus, and for a guy that finds himself slightly-above average across all athletic measurements, it's nice to have an elite measurement that's quite relevant for a wide receiver. If someone tells you Jalen McMillan is unathletic, you look them dead in the eye, firm of brow, and say "No, he's slightly above-average, and it shows up where it counts."

Underlying Metrics

When we looked at Coker yesterday, we really loved his YAC per reception, and it's only fair to give Jalen McMillan a glance. YAC Per Reception Xavier Worthy - 6.89 YAC per reception Brian Thomas - 6.45

Ladd McConkey - 4.75 Rome Odunze - 4.55

Malik Nabers - 4.23 Jalen McMillan - 3.59 Marvin Harrison Jr. - 2.38 (ouch) Jalen McMillan doesn't exactly specialize in YAC, which isn't surprising given his athletic profile. He's not quite built like Coker and has difficulty breaking tackles. That's okay, there's some better stuff coming: Target Separation (Average Yards of Separation from defender at the moment the pass arrives) Xavier Worthy - 2.06, #10

Brian Thomas - 1.79, #23 Jalen McMillan - 1.72, #28 Rome Odunze, 1.62, #41

Ladd McConkey - 1.62, #42

Jalen Coker, 1.59, #49 Malik Nabers - 1.55, #53 Keon Coleman - 1.07, #101

Marvin Harrison Jr. - 1.03, #107

Pretty cool that the 2024 draft class had three of the top 30 separators in the NFL, and one of them happened to be Jalen McMillan. And beyond that, seeing both Coker and McMillan hang with the early round picks in separation ability only confirms that these two are pretty damned good and were probably drafted a bit late relative to their talent (if Coker was even drafted in your league).

And much like Coker, Jalen McMillan also excels in another key metric Target Premium (Who gets the most high-value targets on their respective team, translated into a percentage of additional fantasy points)

Brian Thomas #5 Coker, #13

Ladd, #14 McMillan, #18

Keon Coleman, #22 (interesting)

Nabers, #33

Xavier Worthy, #46

Marvin Harrison Jr., #68 Rome Odunze, #88

Baker Mayfield trusted McMillan in high value situations more than Mike Evans (#29), and Chris Godwin (#28). Not too shabby. I guess that explains why this happened:

But please, tell me more why a receiver that is elite at separating from his man, is trusted by Baker Mayfield more than any other receiver on the Bucs, and produced an absurd 7 TDs over the last five games isn't going to be a part of the Bucs game-plan. And don't say he's not athletic! Well let me tell you more, buddy: Fantasy Points Per Target Jalen McMillan - 1.99 vs man, 2.50 vs zone Jalen Coker - 1.57 vs man. 2.79 vs zone. Marvin Harrison Jr - 1.69 vs man, 1.70 vs zone Malik Nabers - 1.35 vs man, 1.92 vs zone Rome Odunze - 1.06 vs man, 1.67 vs zone Brian Thomas - 1.71 vs man, 2.35 vs zone

Xavier Worthy - 1.56 vs man, 1.66 vs zone Ladd McConkey - 2.47 vs man, 1.95 vs zone Jalen McMillan falls just short of Coker vs zone coverage, yet finds himself above every other relevant receiver from the 2024 WR class. Like Coker, McMillan clearly has The Vision, consistently finding soft spots in the zone. After seeing just how effecient McMillan was in 2025, culminating in one of the most dominant five game stretches you'll ever see from a WR in fantasy football, do you still believe he isn't the real deal? Because that 2022 season at Washington, where I'd argue he outperformed Odunze...that was the real deal. Had he had the same production in 2023, Jalen McMillan would have easily been a 2nd round pick in rookie drafts. So congrats to those who got this stud in the 3rd or 4th, enjoy your sleeper, because much like an Egg McMuffin, Jalen is underrated and delicious.