Has Xavier Legette undergone a ‘complete transformation?’ Panthers think so

By now, a significant percentage of the Carolina Panthers fan base has given up on wide receiver Xavier Legette.

Two years of generally disappointing numbers for the team’s first-round pick in 2024 has made that happen, as well as Legette’s demotion late last season. Legette lost his starting job late in 2025. He played only 40% of the snaps in Carolina’s home playoff loss against the L.A. Rams, catching just one pass. In the meantime Jalen Coker, starting in Legette’s place, had the game of his life with nine catches for 134 yards and a touchdown.

But you know who hasn’t given up on Legette?

The Panthers.

“Xavier has attacked this offseason,” said Panthers offensive coordinator Brad Idzik, who this season will take over play-calling duties from head coach Dave Canales. “He’s focused. He’s getting after it. He’s taking care of his body — a complete transformation, where he’s really investing in himself, even away from the building.”

Idzik said some more complimentary stuff, too, when I asked him about Legette last week in a media conference call. But I thought the two most important words he said were “complete transformation.”

In the limited time that reporters have been allowed to watch the Panthers practice so far in this offseason, Legette does look a little leaner. The rest is hard to tell, although there are workout videos on social media where Legette certainly looks like a candidate for “American Gladiators.”

Still, will that help Legette’s catch percentage from 2025, which was 54.7%? (Coker, the undrafted rookie who like Legette joined the Panthers in 2024, had a catch percentage of 76.7.)

Will his revamped body help his field awareness? Will it help him finally look like the player he did during his last season at South Carolina, when the Mullins, S.C., native had 1,255 yards receiving against SEC competition and at times looked unguardable?

I’ll have to see it to believe it. After two years of watching Legette’s near-misses, I have my doubts. But the Panthers swear they have not lost confidence in Legette, who in two years at Carolina has averaged slightly less than 28 receiving yards per game. But in 2025, they made a rare decision by taking a wide receiver again in the first round. That one was Tetairoa McMillan, picked No. 8 overall compared to Legette’s No. 32.

McMillan became the NFL’s Offensive Rookie of the Year, gaining more yards by reception (1,014) than Legette has managed in both of his NFL seasons put together (860).

Legette should begin the 2026 season in September as Carolina’s No. 3 receiver. But even that isn’t guaranteed. Carolina drafted rookie Chris Brazzell II in the third round, and he’s going to get on the field some, if only to take the top off the defense with deep routes.

And then there’s free-agent addition John Metchie III, who has familiarity with Bryce Young due to the two of them playing together at Alabama. And then there’s also Jimmy Horn, another speedster who made an occasional impact in 2025.

But Idzik spoke recently as if Legette was a shoo-in to have some sort of significant role.

“We have so much confidence in him,” Idzik said of the third-year receiver. “He’s playing fast right now. We just want to keep him right there, keep him confident in what he’s doing, because he’s inspiring the guys around him. And you know? That’s all we want. We want guys playing full tilt, playing with confidence. And Xavier is showing us that right now, because of the work he put in on the front end.”

Legette doesn’t have a mean bone in his body and is unique in a number of ways. He rides horses, makes everyone smile with his lowcountry South Carolina accent and has the sort of build (6-3, 227 pounds) that the Panthers have always hoped would make him an above-the-rim sort of player who could bully shorter cornerbacks on jump balls.

Everyone in the locker room would like Legette to succeed. When Legette did have a great flash of success in 2025, catching a difficult touchdown pass to jumpstart a Carolina comeback from 17 points down against Miami, Carolina coach Dave Canales said: “I was about to cry, honestly.”

“We call those ‘trust throws,’” Legette said that same day in October. “When he (Bryce Young) threw me that one right there, it showed me he believed in me.”

Those sorts of successful plays, though, have been relatively rare — although Young has never wavered in his public support of Young.

More common, though: the lone pass Legette caught in that Rams game. On a third-and-9 early in the first quarter, Legette caught a pass for eight yards. The Panthers were then faced with a difficult choice. They gambled on a fourth-and-1, lost and saw the Rams almost immediately score a touchdown.

Legette didn’t catch another pass the rest of the game, as Young instead found success with Coker and McMillan in the 34-31 loss. He did return a couple of kickoffs, though, and it’s conceivable he will do that some this season, too.

Carolina drafted Legette as a receiver, though, and this season they’re going to give that another go. The “complete transformation” — we won’t know if that’s an accurate phrase or not until a few weeks into the season.

But, at least, it’s a start.

Scott Fowler

The Charlotte Observer

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Columnist Scott Fowler has written for The Charlotte Observer since 1994 and has earned 26 APSE awards for his sportswriting. He hosted The Observer’s podcast “Carruth,” which Sports Illustrated once named “Podcast of the Year.” Fowler also conceived and hosted the online series and podcast “Sports Legends of the Carolinas,” which featured 1-on-1 interviews with NC and SC sports icons and was turned into a book. He occasionally writes about non-sports subjects, such as the 5-part series “9/11/74,” which chronicled the forgotten plane crash of Eastern Air Lines Flight 212 in Charlotte on Sept. 11, 1974. Support my work with a digital subscription