Why the Panthers want to draft Xavier Legette

The Gamecock wide receiver has the Carolina Panthers buzzing, but is he worth it?

It is typical this time of year for reports to start trickling out noting which prospects have the attention of front offices around the NFL. This year, it seems as though South Carolina Gamecock wide receiver Xavier Legette is the apple of the Carolina Panthers’ eye. Ten members of the Panthers organization made the trip to attend the South Carolina pro-day where Panthers Wide Receivers Coach Rob Moore was running the position drills, according to Jordan Reid of ESPN. Even Legette himself took notice of the team’s interest and told the world about the buzz in their facility during a press conference that’s gone viral because of an accent you have to hear for yourself:

As with almost every prospect in the NFL Draft, the conglomerate of draft analysts has mixed feelings towards Xavier Legette for a variety of reasons. The Panthers seemingly agree with the pro-Legette crowd, so let’s take a look at Legette’s profile to understand what may be piquing their interest.

ATHLETICISM

Legette’s physical measurables are among the most impressive in this year’s draft class. At 6’1 and 221lbs, he clocked a blazing 4.39 40-yard dash at the NFL Combine. While that is just track speed, he also showed elite on-field speed during a catch and run vs Mississippi State where he reached a top speed of 22.3 mile per hour. This would would have been the fastest recorded top speed on an NFL field last year, according to Next Gen Stats.

Further proof that Legette has the elite combination of height, weight, and speed that NFL evaluators covet comes from the Game Athleticism Score metric that PFF recently debuted:

“The PFF GAS rating is built from various metrics PFF computes for every player on every play, such as speeds, accelerations and changes of direction. To compute an athleticism score, PFF aggregates the play-level metrics and scores them via each metric’s season-over-season stability by position.”

Among the players included in PFF’s dataset, Xavier Legette ranked in the 99th percentile. As far as on-field athleticism is concerned, it quite literally does not get much more impressive. For those interested in Relative Athletic Scores, Legette lands in the 98th percentile of athletes since 1987 after also showing off during the rest of the athletic testing portion of the evaluation process.

METRICS

In the Pro Football Focus draft guide (subscription required), each wide receiver’s prospect profile includes the player’s 2023 ranking in what PFF has dubbed “stable metrics”. These metrics are defined as the statistics that “translate more often than not from college to the NFL” – meaning that if a player performs well in these areas in college, this performance is more likely to translate into their NFL careers.

In order to understand what these rankings mean in relation to Legette’s peers in the 2024 draft, the metrics for the consensus best three wide receivers (Marvin Harrison Jr, Malik Nabers, Rome Odunze) projected to come off the board within the top ten selections and the two larger bodied prospects (Keon Coleman, Adonai Mitchell) projected to come off the board in the same range as Legette are included in the comparison.

(Note: the values in parentheses are the prospect’s percentile ranking for each metric – all values obtained from the PFF 2024 NFL Draft Guide, which only states the 2023 value. According to PFF, these metrics do not factor in physical measurables as they are purely a measurement of on-field production)

The stable metrics for the top three prospects are unsurprising and solidify why they are considered worthy of a top ten selection. Legette is not that far behind them as he was either fourth in each metric directly after the three elite prospects, or trailed only Marvin Harrison, Jr. Keeping in mind that this is only a one year sample size, Legette’s consistency across these metrics in relation to the consensus top three receivers is an encouraging sign. Versus Keon Coleman and Adonai Mitchell, Legette’s metrics are unequivocally more impressive since neither receiver surpassed Legette in any of the five categories.

RED FLAG

The red flag that waves in Legette’s prospect profile is that he didn’t break out until his fifth collegiate season. It is a fair critique, as naming a successful NFL wide receiver who had only one year of strong college production as a super senior is a difficult task.

However, there are a few potential mitigating factors at play that may impact his evaluation, including: a stint playing quarterback in high school, the tragic loss of both of his parents, coaching changes, a global pandemic, waiting his turn behind upper classman, and poor quarterback play prior to Spencer Rattler’s arrival to the University of South Carolina. NFL analyst Brett Kollmann posted a thread on social media with more details about Legette’s difficult path to the NFL.

Despite whether his excuses are valid, a late breakout is better than no breakout at all. There is something to be said for Legette’s willingness to stick with his team and work through adversity in a time where it has never been easier to seek out the greener grass on the other side through the transfer portal. Given how the previous few seasons have gone for the Carolina Panthers, a player exhibiting that level of loyalty and mental fortitude to persevere could be a welcome addition to the locker room.

PLAYER FIT

Of course, none of the above matters if Xavier Legette is not a suitable fit for what the Carolina Panthers and Head Coach Dave Canales envision for their offense. Legette’s play-strength and speed makes it difficult for defenders to move him and disrupt the timing of the route, a helpful trait for an offense reliant on timing such as what we expect to see from the Panthers under Canales. If a play does break down, Legette’s explosive vertical jump shows up in his ability to levitate above defensive backs to high-point and secure the ball through contact. Every offense in the NFL benefits from adding a receiver that their quarterback can trust to win contested catch opportunities as long as he puts it in the area code.

At the very least, Legette would be able to contribute from day one by stretching the defense vertically and collecting touches on crossing routes, screens or even returning kicks. Last year, Dave Canales’ offense in Tampa Bay prioritized creating explosive plays off play-action by getting the ball to Mike Evans down the field. Legette’s skillset would be perfectly suited in that role, as his speed and catch radius would make for an easier target for Bryce Young – the quarterback who could desperately use a player to help re-build his confidence after some struggles connecting on the deep ball in his rookie year.

Fortunately, the Panthers have complimentary pass catchers on the roster, such as Adam Thielen and Diontae Johnson, with established route running ability at all three levels of the field to take the pressure off Legette from needing to be the top target from day one of his career. Legette does have some stiffness in his hips, so more time in the league should help him refine his technique to improve getting in and out of breaks. He will never be Diontae Johnson as a route runner, but he doesn’t need to be with his other physical gifts.

It is also worth noting that some have compared Legette’s skillset to that of Seattle Seahawks pro bowl wide receiver DK Metcalf, who Dave Canales spent several years with during his time with the Seahawks. Canales’ experience with players of a similar archetype gives credence to his ability to design a role for Legette to have immediate success.

CONCLUSION

Legette has an elite combination of size and speed that you do not see often and the mentality required to maximize those rare gifts. His age (turned 23 this past January) and single season of production scare some evaluators but, for the price of an early second round pick, the Panthers may be thinking it is worth the gamble to see if that superstar upside will show up on Sundays in Bank of America Stadium.