CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Midway through the Panthers’ first rookie minicamp session Friday, Xavier Legette ran a deep, in-breaking route against air and turned his head to find the pass from former Louisville quarterback Jack Plummer.
The ball was thrown well behind Legette and ended up on the ground, a familiar sight during the hourlong practice. Getting the timing down is always a challenge on the first day of rookie minicamp, which brings together draft picks, undrafted free agents and a few players on tryout contracts. But that was especially tough for Plummer and ex-Montana State quarterback Sean Chambers on Friday when trying to connect with Legette.
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“Xavier’s a big, fast man. So there is a change of pace. He’s covering ground like you’re not used to seeing,” Panthers coach Dave Canales said of the former South Carolina wideout. “Just looking at Montana State and Louisville, they may not have had a guy that’s this big, this fast. So a lot of what I saw was them trying to catch up to the speed and explosion of Xavier coming out of his breaks. But I’m confident we’ll be better tomorrow.”
Former Louisville QB Jack Plummer misses Xavier Legette during rookie minis. pic.twitter.com/UmmFbkb6DL
— Josh Klein (@joshkleinrules) May 10, 2024
Maybe the chemistry improves during Saturday’s final minicamp practice, maybe it doesn’t. For the 6-1, 221-pound Legette, none of it matters much until Monday when he can begin working with second-year quarterback Bryce Young during OTAs.
Legette tried to get together with Young after being drafted with the 32nd (and last) pick in the first round before learning it wasn’t permissible under NFL and NFLPA rules. So the important stuff starts soon.
“When Monday comes and everybody’s in the building,” Legette said, “we’ll get everything on track.”
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Legette’s work started in earnest during the pre-draft process at two training centers in Fort Lauderdale — one focused on speed development and another for receiver-specific instruction. As Canales referenced, Legette has always had the size-speed combination (his 4.39-second 40 tied for the sixth-fastest among the receivers at this year’s combine).
But as he participated in Senior Bowl practices and the combine, Legette kept hearing that he had to improve as a route-runner — and it wasn’t just from armchair scouts in the media.
“I feel like the coaches kind of thought the same thing, as well. So I feel like that was important,” he said. “I put emphasis on making that happen and being able to show them that I could do that through the process.”
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Some questioned Legette’s ability to drop his hips and quickly get out of his breaks, especially on patterns like comebacks, curls and choice routes.
“It’s mostly my size. A lot of folks say a lot of bigger guys can’t get in and out of their breaks. But I’m gonna show them (otherwise),” Legette said.
“I watch DK Metcalf. They say the same thing about him sometimes,” he added. “So I just try to see what he do best to get open in the league.”
The Metcalf comparison is notable because Canales was with the 6-4, 235-pound receiver in Seattle as a Seahawks’ offensive assistant. Metcalf has posted five seasons with at least 900 receiving yards (including three 1,000-plus years) since Seattle took the former Ole Miss standout in the second round of the 2019 draft.
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Canales said during the draft that Legette and Metcalf are different types of receivers but share some physical traits and athleticism. South Carolina coach Shane Beamer said several NFL general managers and coaches he spoke to at the Senior Bowl marveled at Legette’s size. Canales had a similar reaction when he met Legette in person for the first time at the combine.
“The way that he carries 225, it’s pretty incredible. It’s just really well distributed in his body. So it doesn’t look like there’s this really thick man,” Canales said. “He’s just so proportionately built. And then his movement skills — the way he controls his body, the way that he gets in and out of breaks — it’s pretty special. To see him out there moving around like he does is impressive.”
Xavier Legette said route-running was a big part of his pre-draft training as that was one of the knocks on him. pic.twitter.com/BBUWrutAQI
— Joe Person (@josephperson) May 10, 2024
Legette wasn’t much of a factor his first four seasons with the Gamecocks, never finishing better than seventh on the team in receiving. But he broke out in a big way in 2023, beginning with a coming-out party (nine catches for 178 yards) against North Carolina in a kickoff-game matchup. Legette finished with 71 receptions for 1,255 yards and seven touchdowns and joined LSU’s Malik Nabers (drafted No. 6 by the Giants) as the only two SEC players to average 100 receiving yards a game.
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Still, some teams and draft analysts thought his routes needed polish.
“Legette is at his best on runway routes (verticals, posts, crossers) or sweeps and end-arounds that get his long-striding acceleration going,” The Athletic’s Dane Brugler wrote in ‘The Beast.’ “He doesn’t consistently shake tight man coverage, but he will use his size to play strong through contact.”
Legette said he was at his best on those over-the-top routes because that is primarily what he ran in college. “I wasn’t really asked to run a lot of those routes to where I’m showing that I’m bringing my hips,” he said. “A lot of my routes in my film show that I’m more so with the deep ball. But I can run any route in the route tree.”
Asked if it’s tough to balance comeback-types routes with vertical stretch, Legette smiled and said: “Oh, nah, nah. It’s all football, dog.”
(Photo: Chris Carlson / Associated Press)
