• Disappointing production in Week 1: Xavier Legette caught just three of his seven targets for 10 total receiving yards against the Jacksonville Jaguars.
• Legette’s grades weren’t any better: His 54.2 receiving grade in Week 1 marked the 17th straight game that he’s recorded a sub-67.0 receiving grade.
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Estimated Reading Time: 5 minutes

Every team in the NFL wants a difference-making pass catcher. Heck, every team would want three. In fact, I’m not sure the limit exists when it comes to a desire to get talented receivers on the depth chart.

Because of this, we see teams draft receivers in the top 50 even if they don’t “need” one. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers come to mind when they drafted Emeka Egbuka in the first round in 2025 despite having Mike Evans and re-signing Chris Godwin. Another example was when the Dallas Cowboys drafted CeeDee Lamb in 2020 despite recently trading for Amari Cooper and his 1,000-yard season in 2019. 

Two drafts ago, the Carolina Panthers weren’t in the “luxury” receiver pick category; they needed a wide receiver badly. They struggled in Bryce Young’s first season, winning just two games, with an aging Adam Thielen leading their team in receiving production by a mile. They had Jonathan Mingo, who they drafted in the second round the year prior, but he put up pedestrian production as a rookie. Within Young’s struggles at quarterback, many pointed to the lack of receiving talent as the catalyst. The Panthers didn’t have a first-round pick in the 2024 draft due to trading up to get Young a year prior, but they were still aggressive and traded up to the final pick of the first round to draft Xavier Legette in hopes of him becoming their WR1.

Legette was coming off his best college football season at South Carolina. The 6-foot-1, 225-pound receiver who ran a 4.39-second 40-yard dash at the combine recorded an 86.9 receiving grade with over 1,000 yards in 2023. However, prior to that year, he was mainly a special teams and depth receiver who had yet to record a single-season receiving grade above 60.0. Nonetheless, his athleticism and contested-catch ability were two things the Panthers felt like they didn’t have on their roster, so they took a chance on him at Pick 32.

Fast forward about a year and half, and after Week 1 of the 2025 season, it might be time to get worried that Legette won’t work out the way they hoped.

As a rookie in 2024, Legette led the team in targets with 82 but was still second on the team in receiving yards with just 497 (behind Thielen), grabbing four touchdowns. In Week 1 of this year against the Jaguars, Legette caught just three of seven targets for just 10 yards and a 54.2 receiving grade. He missed one game last season, giving him a 17-game sample size now in his NFL career, and he has yet to earn a single-game receiving grade above 67.0. That alone is concerning, but with more context, it gets even more troubling.

Even though my opening statement is true – teams always want more top-tier pass catchers – Carolina’s defense needed new playmakers via the 2025 draft. The best way to address roster concerns is always with premium picks, mainly in the first round. And yet, Carolina chose to draft wide receiver Tetairoa McMillan in the top 10. This was even while Thielen was still on the roster and UDFA gem Jalen Coker was still healthy. In theory, if the team believed Legette had No. 1 receiver potential, I don’t think McMillan would have been the pick back in late April.

That brings us back to this past weekend. McMillan was Young’s top passing option, as we expected him to be, as he accumulated nine targets for five receptions and 68 receiving yards, all of which led the team. Yet, where Legette was next in terms of targets (seven), he ended up fifth on the stat sheet in total production. That is concerning, especially given the fact that Thielen is no longer on the team and Coker wasn’t even out there due to being placed on injured reserve. 

Legette fulfilling his potential was always going to be a process. He didn’t have ample work as a starting receiver in college and mainly won off contested catches, which gets more difficult to do in the NFL. However, if he can’t produce while Thielen is no longer on the roster and Coker is out due to injury, that’s a bad sign, so the Panthers may face the possibility of spending yet another top-50 or top-100 pick on a pass catcher in 2026. Washington‘s Denzel Boston, USC’s Makai Lemon and Ohio State‘s Carnell Tate are in that range on the current 2026 PFF big board, so Panthers fans would be wise to get familiar with them if Legette can’t turn things around.