Xavier Legette is showing the NFL what the Carolina Panthers saw in him all along

In the locker room on Sunday evening, just a few minutes removed from their 10-point loss to the Cincinnati Bengals, Xavier Legette was swarmed by cameras and asked to answer to his performance.

There was a lot to unpack.

Drops, yes. But also dynamism.

Rookie moments that remind you of the long path in front of him, sure. But also rookie moments that suggest how far he can go.

The first thing he was asked to unpack, though? His touchdown celebration — the one where he caught the ball and mounted an imaginary horse (Josh Norman anyone?) and galloped to a sideline that was erupting alongside him.

“You know I ride horses,” Legette said with a smile and his trademarked, Mullins, S.C., elocution. “So that’s what I wanted to stay with.”

Sunday, in many ways, was a perfect snapshot of who Legette is at this point in his rookie year. It’s also a great look at who the Panthers thought he could be all along.

‘The step’ Xavier Legette needs to make

First, the dynamism.

Legette earned the first start of his career on Sunday thanks most notably to the hamstring injury suffered by Adam Thielen, which will sideline the veteran wideout at least three more weeks. Legette played in 61% of offensive snaps — tops among all non-offensive lineman and players not named Andy Dalton — and was targeted a career-high 10 times as a result. He hauled in six of those catches for 66 yards and a score. He also ran the ball twice for 10 yards; those end-arounds give Legette the freedom to run like a freight train — even if that train doesn’t slow down on turns and its wheels often lift off the tracks a bit.

Top receiver Diontae Johnson said it was good seeing Legette “finally get in the box” and that the touchdown was a “first of many.” Dalton — who has boosted Legette’s involvement in the offense — said Legette is “really good with the ball in his hands.” The quarterback added that “we’ve got to find different ways” to get it to him because “I think everybody knows the talent that he has.”

The Panthers certainly do. They had for a while.

This speed and explosiveness is what the coaching staff saw in Legette when they chose to trade up into the first round for him in the 2024 NFL Draft. The team didn’t have a first-round pick — by vice of that oft-discussed 2023 blockbuster trade with the Bears — but general manager Dan Morgan elected to trade up exactly one pick and sneak into the first round to obtain Legette. The move not only secured a wide receiver to help an offense lacking explosiveness — it also bought the team some insurance in the form of a fifth-year team option in case Legette develops into the player the Panthers hope he’ll be in a few years.

All this said, Sunday was a welcomed come-out party for Legette. The rookie receiver, through the first three contests, was targeted the least among the team’s four receivers. Johnson, who plays at the X/primary deep threat, was targeted 26 times before Sunday. Thielen (F/slot) was targeted 12 times, Jonathan Mingo (Z/flanker/everywhere) was targeted 11 times, and Legette (Z/anywhere) was targeted 10 times, including zero times Week 2.

That has changed after Sunday. Legette is now not only the second-most targeted guy on the Panthers’ roster, he also is second in receiving yards.

“Played fast,” head coach Dave Canales said of Legette’s performance Sunday. “Did what he was supposed to do. That’s the step he’s gotta make.”

Xavier Legette knows his drops were there, too

That’s not to say his Sunday was perfect. That brings us to the drops.

The first-round pick dropped two passes Sunday that could’ve turned the game’s tide. The first one hit him in the chest along the sideline as the Panthers were driving while trailing 28-14; it stunted the drive. The second one stunted a drive, too — it was a third-and-4 and Legette dropped a 5-yard pass and forced the Panthers to settle for a field goal to cut the game to seven with just over seven minutes left.

When asked if the team’s 34-24 loss could be construed as “healthy” because of the offense’s performance, Legette was quick.

“I wouldn’t call it a healthy loss because of the two drops I had,” Legette said. “That’s the difference between winning and losing. And if I would have been able to make those plays, we would have been able to stay on the field and maybe get a touchdown.”

For those who’ve followed Legette since his debut with the Panthers, this accountability isn’t new. After his first day of training camp, he was hard on himself seemingly out of nowhere, saying that “camp has started pretty slow for me” and that “I feel like it wasn’t my best” and that “I didn’t leave everything out there on the field.” Those who’ve followed him longer know he’s been this honest everywhere he’s been.

And the Panthers are banking on Legette being the same guy they thought he was on draft night — minus the drops so long as the rest comes along, too.