Do the expectations for Panthers rookie WR Xavier Legette change with Andy Dalton at QB?
The Panthers ended the first quarter of their season with a 1-3 record following Sunday’s 34-24 loss to the Cincinnati Bengals at Bank of America Stadium.
Naturally, Carolina fans are curious about where their favorite team goes from here. That’s why The Charlotte Observer has brought back the Panthers mailbag to provide answers.
Here are some questions from social media:
Xavier Legette’s Year 1 upside
Reid asks: How much should we re-calibrate expectations for Xavier Legette this season after Sunday’s performance? Commanding 12 targets/rushes (not including the penalty he drew when getting open on a missed deep ball) is impressive.
Mike Kaye: It’s certainly fair to make expectation changes for Legette with Andy Dalton starting at quarterback over Bryce Young.
In two games with Young, Legette caught four passes for 35 yards (8.8 yards per catch) on seven targets. In two games with Dalton, Legette hauled in eight passes for 108 yards (13.5 YPC) and a touchdown on 13 targets.
The first-round draft pick is on pace for 51 catches for 608 yards (11.9 YPC) and four touchdowns at his current productivity rate over 17 games. But obviously, the uptick from the Dalton run could lead to an even better stat line.
Last season, 2023 second-round pick Jonathan Mingo finished with 43 catches for 418 yards and zero touchdowns. So, as of now, the expectation is that Legette is at least an upgrade in talent over Mingo, who still hasn’t scored with 19 games (16 starts) on his resume.
As this beat writer wrote in the Panthers Access newsletter on Monday, Legette is still an enigma. He has one of the most awkward sprinting strides that we’ve seen in the NFL in years. He runs like he has pebbles in his shoes and fire in his heart, as he is surprisingly off-balance for a guy who is deceptively quick.
Still, Legette looks like a legitimate weapon, especially as a gadget player. He was never considered a great route runner or a technique-driven wideout as a prospect, so his growing pains were to be expected. But he’s certainly lived up to his billing as a big-bodied, jump-ball receiver through four games.
His current productivity rate would be a win of sorts for the front office. The team has failed to develop a high-pick wideout since the early days of D.J. Moore, so Legette showing legitimate promise would be advantageous to the future of the team, especially with Diontae Johnson essentially on a one-year deal.
A change on the Panthers’ offensive line coming?
Leonard asks: Yosh Nijman is a backup right now but do you think he slides into a starting role at some point this season?
The Panthers signed Nijman to one of the more lucrative backup lineman contracts in the league this offseason. He was given a two-year, $8 million deal in free agency to provide support behind left tackle Ikem Ekwnonu and right tackle Taylor Moton.
While Ekwonu continues to get flak for his pass protection inconsistencies, he has been largely fine this season. Moton, despite his veteran off days in practice, has been his typical reliable self. Both players are signed beyond this season and the organization has largely backed them with their actions.
However, if Ekwonu continues to struggle as a consistent pass protector, the Panthers do have insurance in Nijman, who started 22 of 67 games with the Green Bay Packers from 2020 to 2023. Ultimately, the answer to the question is conditional based on Ekwonu’s play and Moton’s health.
Nijman has recovered from his offseason leg surgery, and he has been active for all four games this season. With head coach Dave Canales claiming to want to challenge the roster weekly, it wouldn’t be all that surprising to see Nijman get a shot at left tackle at some point. Ekwonu wasn’t handpicked by Canales or general manager Dan Morgan, and the rest of the offensive line has played quite well.
Again, though, it’s fair to expect Ekwonu to get plenty of leeway as the starting left tackle, given the amount of time the current staff invested in him this summer. And he hasn’t been particularly terrible enough to be benched as of now.
Take the points or go for it?
George asks: Fourth down inside the 5, why go for it especially running between two backup guards? I could understand if Hunt & Lewis were in there but in this case take the points.
George is referencing the opening drive where the Panthers ran two consecutive times near the goal line. But the Panthers weren’t running behind two backup guards, as right guard Robert Hunt played the entire game.
Unfortunately for the Panthers, Hubbard took a hand-off to his left behind fill-in left guard Chandler Zavala, and the lineman was pushed backward into the ball-carrier on fourth-and-goal from the Cincinnati 1-yard line. The failed play led to a turnover on downs.
The reason to go it was two-fold. One, the Panthers are a team that has historically struggled to put up early points — Week 3 aside — and being aggressive at home can swing momentum. Two, as shown by the result, if the Panthers didn’t get the score, they would set the Bengals up at the 1-yard line and force them to go the length of the field on their opening possession.
The Panthers forced the Bengals to punt after a couple of first-down conversions on the follow-up series, so the risk ended up being minimal. An opening drive field goal would have given Cincinnati better scoring position and would have only put the Panthers up by three in a game where they trailed by double digits throughout most of the second half.
The Panthers ultimately lost by 10 points. Had they scored a touchdown on that opening drive, they might have only needed a field goal late in the game, as opposed to a touchdown and more. Being aggressive there was fine, especially with the team looking to be competitive in a game of mediocre records. The play call was more of an issue than anything.
The running game is the offense’s proven strength, and Canales was banking on that. Unfortunately, he showed a bit too much resolve with Zavala, and the Panthers paid the price as he was overmatched by defenders. Running it to the right side with Hunt and Moton would have probably been the lower-risk call. It also seemed like a good time for a Tommy Tremble target in the passing game — alas, he wasn’t targeted at all Sunday.
This is a lesson for Canales. But going for it on fourth-and-goal from the 1-yard line wasn’t the issue. Just need a better play call.
Being up three when you’ve surged to the goal line doesn’t have the same morale boost as scoring a touchdown in that instance. Again, going for it is fine, but the play call left a lot to be desired.
