Panthers wide receiver Xavier Legette said in June that he “can’t have another year like I did last year” and the work he’s done to turn things around has paid some dividends this summer.
Legette suffered a stinger early in camp, but has returned to put together strong practice work that includes a touchdown pass that ended Wednesday’s practice. It was one of several catches that showed the skills that made him a 2024 first-round pick.
After Wednesday’s practice, head coach Dave Canales shared how impressed he’s been by the receiver’s efforts.
“Really good to see him back out there playing like himself,” Canales said, via the team’s website. “Playing fast, just knowing where to be. . . . He looks explosive. He’s the same focused guy that I’ve known for going on three years now, so the intensity and the focus is still there. He’s very comfortable in what we’re doing. And then what I’ve seen him do is just make great plays on the boundary, back of the end zone, just some of those spatial plays where he can go attack the ball, find a way to get his feet down, and he’s really attacked that part of his game, and that’s something that I’ve seen him really improve on.”
Legette said he got “too loose” last season, which led to mental errors on top of a drop in his productivity. He “honed into the details” that weren’t clean enough as part of his bid to rebound this year and the result could help position him to break out in his third NFL season.
