I understand the idea of moving on from Xavier Legette. I really do. He hasn't looked like a first-round receiver through his first two seasons, and things haven't exactly gotten better to start 2026.
Legette has two catches for 64 yards this season and is now on injured reserve with a knee injury. If somebody wants to tell me Carolina hasn't gotten enough from him, I'm not going to argue. I don't know how anybody could at this point.
But trading him now? That's where you lose me.
Jun 9, 2026; Charlotte, NC, USA; Carolina Panthers wide receiver Xavier Legette (17) reaches for the catch during the first day of mini camp at Bank of America Stadium practice facility. Mandatory Credit: Jim Dedmon-Imagn Images | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect
Bleacher Report's Kristopher Knox recently included Legette among NFL players who could use a change of scenery. Knox listed the Kansas City Chiefs and Philadelphia Eagles as two ideal landing spots for the former first-round pick.
And look, I get where he's coming from. Legette had 497 receiving yards and four touchdowns as a rookie before dropping to 363 yards and three touchdowns last season. Meanwhile, Tetairoa McMillan has become Carolina's No. 1 receiver, and Jalen Coker has worked his way into a pretty important role of his own.
Knox wrote that Legette "simply hasn't been a big part of the offense" since McMillan and Coker emerged. He also questioned whether Legette is "cut out to be a true No. 1 receiver."
I can't really argue with either of those points. Legette hasn't become a No. 1 receiver, and maybe he never will. When Carolina traded up and took him with the final pick of the first round in 2024, I'm pretty sure this isn't what anybody had in mind three seasons later.
But I'm also not sure why we're in such a hurry to decide that the story is over. He's 25 years old. Maybe I'm being too patient here, but I'm not ready to give up on him yet.
This is where the whole thing starts losing me. What exactly is Carolina getting for Legette right now? He's injured, his numbers haven't been good and there are already questions about where he fits in this offense.
That's about the worst possible time to trade somebody.
A previous Bleacher Report trade board had Legette's value at a conditional fifth-round pick before the season. If that's anywhere close to what Carolina could get now, I'm keeping him. Maybe another team offers more, but I have a hard time believing anybody is giving up something significant for him right now.
And if we're talking about a fifth-round pick, what are we really doing here? You're giving up on a 25-year-old former first-rounder with size and 4.39 speed for a pick that may or may not turn into anything. I'd rather see if Carolina can figure out how to get something out of the guy it already has.
Knox even pointed to Legette's size, speed and physical style as reasons he could still become a "high-end complementary target." Maybe that's the answer. Maybe the problem is that we've spent too much time wondering whether Legette can become a No. 1 receiver.
Because honestly, he doesn't need to be one anymore. McMillan is here, and Coker has shown he deserves a role. If Legette can come back healthy and become a good third option for Bryce Young, is that really such a bad thing?
Give me four or five catches. Give me the occasional deep ball. Give me somebody defenses at least have to think about when they're worrying about McMillan and Coker.
I can live with that.
Then I got to Knox's two landing spots: Kansas City and Philadelphia.
Of course.
So Carolina is going to trade a 25-year-old receiver with 4.39 speed to one of those teams, probably get a late-round pick back, and then hope he doesn't figure it out there? Maybe I'm being a little paranoid, but I've watched enough football to know how that story can end.
I'm not saying Legette is going to leave Carolina and suddenly catch 80 passes. Nothing he's done so far gives me a reason to predict that. But put him with Patrick Mahomes and Andy Reid, and I'm at least going to wonder what they could get out of him.
Philadelphia wouldn't make me feel much better. Sometimes a player doesn't need to become a star to make a trade look bad. He just needs to find the right role while the team that traded him is sitting there wondering why it couldn't do the same thing.
That's what would bother me.
Legette is going to miss at least four games after Carolina placed him on injured reserve with the knee injury he suffered against Atlanta. So before we start figuring out where to send him, I'd like to see him get healthy and actually play some football again.
Maybe he comes back and nothing changes. Maybe we get to December, and I'm sitting here saying Knox was right, and a fresh start probably makes sense for everybody. I'm not ruling that out.
I just don't see the point in doing it now. Carolina would be selling about as low as it possibly could on a player who still has enough talent that teams like Kansas City and Philadelphia apparently make sense as landing spots.
That alone should probably tell us something.
If somebody wants to offer Carolina enough to make it think twice, fine. Listen to the offer. But if we're talking about giving Legette away for a late-round pick just because his first two seasons haven't gone the way anybody hoped, I'm out.
I'd rather take my chances and see if there's still something there.
This article was originally published on www.si.com/nfl/panthers/onsi as Panthers Wrongly Urged to Trade Xavier Legette to One of Two Super Bowl Champs .
