Raekwon McMillan

BIOGRAPHY

Raekwon McMillan was born on November 17, 1995, in Midway, Georgia. He is a linebacker in the National Football League.

He attended Liberty County High School in Hinesville, Georgia. He won the High School Butkus Award in 2013. McMillan was a five-star recruit by Rivals.com and was the top-ranked inside linebacker in his class.

McMillan played college football at Ohio State. As a freshman in 2014, he appeared in 13 games making 54 tackles, 2.5 sacks, an interception returned for 24 yards, and a pass defended. As a sophomore in 2015, he played 13 games with 119 tackles, 1.5 sacks, four passes defended, and a fumble recovery. As a junior in 2016, he played 13 games with 102 tackles, two sacks, five passes defended, and two forced fumbles. After his junior year, McMillan declared his intentions to enter the 2017 NFL Draft.

McMillan received an invitation to the NFL Combine and completed all of the combine and positional drills. He also participated at Ohio State's highly anticipated pro day but opted to only run positional drills. Seven general managers and nine head coaches attended Ohio State's pro day to scout McMillan and ten other prospects. McMillan had private workouts and visits with 11 teams that included the Cincinnati Bengals, New England Patriots, Miami Dolphins, Pittsburgh Steelers, Kansas City Chiefs, Washington Redskins, Baltimore Ravens, Detroit Lions, New York Jets, Oakland Raiders, and New Orleans Saints. The majority of NFL draft experts and analysts projected McMillan to be selected in the second or third round. He was ranked the second-best inside linebacker in the draft by NFL analyst Bucky Brooks, the third-best inside linebacker by NFLDraftScout.com, the fifth-best linebacker by Sports Illustrated, and was ranked the tenth best linebacker in the draft by ESPN.

The Miami Dolphins selected McMillan in the second round (54th overall) of the 2017 NFL Draft. He was the seventh linebacker selected in 2017.

On August 10, 2017, McMillan made his professional debut in the Miami Dolphins’ first preseason game against the Atlanta Falcons but left the game after suffering an apparent knee injury. The following day, it was confirmed that he had a torn ACL and had abruptly ended his rookie season. On September 2, 2017, the Miami Dolphins officially placed McMillan on injured reserve.

McMillan entered training camp slated as the de facto starting middle linebacker. Head coach Adam Gase named McMillan the starting middle linebacker to begin the regular season, along with outside linebackers Kiko Alonso and rookie Jerome Baker. He made his professional regular-season debut and the first career start in the Miami Dolphins’ season-opener against the Tennessee Titans and recorded six combined tackles during their 27–20 victory. On December 23, 2018, McMillan collected a season-high ten combined tackles (six solo) during the Dolphins’ 17–7 loss against the Jacksonville Jaguars in Week 16. He started in all 16 games in 2018 and recorded 105 combined tackles (69 solo), two forced fumbles, and one pass deflection. He earned an overall grade of 63.0 from Pro Football Focus, which ranked 55th among all qualified linebackers in 2018.

On August 29, 2020, McMillan was traded to the Las Vegas Raiders, along with a 2021 fifth-round draft pick, for a 2021 fourth-round draft pick.

On March 19, 2021, McMillan signed with the New England Patriots.