CHARLOTTE, N. C. — Carolina Panthers wide receiver Xavier Legette laughed when his first news conference of offseason workouts began with a question about the difference between a thoroughbred and standardbred horse.
Legette, who has a passion for horses, understood it as an attempt to see if he is close to having a horse ready to compete in the Kentucky Derby, which he attended earlier this month.
The simple answer was no. Standardbreds, like Legette owns, are best suited for harness racing, nothing like the sleek, powerful thoroughbreds who compete to win the Derby.
“I’ve got to get some bloodline from some of the horses that already competed in the Derby if I want to do that,” Legette said of his long-term goal of competing in the first leg of the Triple Crown.
Knowing that adding more talent improves your chances of winning, Legette can appreciate why quarterback Bryce Young said it was “music to my ears” when Carolina used the No. 8 pick of the 2025 NFL draft to add Arizona wide receiver Tetairoa McMillan a year after trading into the first round to select Legette at No. 32.
“We’re trying to win games,” Legette said. “Anytime you add a masterpiece like that to what we’re trying to build, that’s great.”
Panthers wide receiver Xavier Legette says the team’s decision to draft WR Tetairoa McMillan No. 8 after taking him in the first round the year before was ”a great pick.” Says they are all smiles. pic.twitter.com/IDLSQIAPeG
— David Newton (@DNewtonespn) May 27, 2025
Instead of being threatened or looking at the selection of McMillan as a knock on him after a rough rookie season, Legette looked at it with the same enthusiasm as Young, who called TMac “a great pick.”
“I feel like it’s going to be a problem either way,” Legette said of whether he or McMillan will become the No. 1 receiver. “I wouldn’t necessarily say it’s a one or two. I feel like it’s either side they look at, they’re going to have to deal with both sides.”
Young agreed. Instead of focusing on what McMillan brings to the offense that Legette doesn’t, he talked about how the entire offense will benefit from having both players.
“Within the system there are so many wrinkles and so many little things that we can build off each other,” he said.
Legette’s rookie season ended with a lot questions, much like Young did after his rookie run as the top pick of the 2023 draft.
The questions for Young persisted in 2024 after he was benched following an 0-2 start with historically bad statistics. They quieted when he turned things around as the starter during the second half of the season.
Young enters his third campaign with a renewed confidence in himself and from the organization.
Having McMillan paired with Legette is part of the reason why coach Dave Canales believes Young will take his game to the next level in 2025. There were signs of that Tuesday when Carolina went through 11-on-11 drills for the first time in OTAs.
“There were some great plays out there, some great timing on the throws, but also just the level of comfort we talked about with the offense, knowing the words, making the tweaks and being a part of that process,” Canales said. “We want it to become the Bryce Young offense, become this collective thing and get the chemistry going.”
Panthers QB Bryce Young on what it was like lobbying for the team to draft WR Tetairoa McMillan in the first round . pic.twitter.com/EYajbuvClV
— David Newton (@DNewtonespn) May 27, 2025
Young already sees more confidence from Legette, who is focused on making catches with his hands more than his body, something McMillan excels at. Legette finished last season with seven drops, tied for 13th most in the NFL. His catch percentage of 58.3 was 22nd lowest.
“Me getting open, that wasn’t a problem,” Legette said. “It was just really honing in to really catching the ball on the dropped passes.”
Canales can already “feel the joy” coming from Legette and sees the added bounce in the receiver’s step after offseason foot surgery.
“What I see is a year into the system, just the speed that he’s playing with now, the level of comfort he has with what we’re doing,” Canales said. “When I see him smiling, I know he’s in a good space.”
Canales couldn’t say enough about the way Legette and McMillan have meshed.
“It’s a great fit,” Canales said. “Even routes on air. They’ll catch a ball, put it away, burst and then they’re looking for the other one and throwing it across the field and playing catch.”
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The biggest benefactor is Young, who now has two big wide receivers — Legette is 6-foot-3 and 227 pounds, while McMillan is 6-5 and 212 pounds — to go with the speed of sixth-round pick Jimmy Horn Jr. and the veteran leadership of Adam Thielen.
“It’s a really dynamic group,” Young said.
The most dynamic is McMillan, who Young said has a catch radius that “definitely has jumped out on film.”
“He’s super smooth, has supernatural hands, great catch radius,” Young said. “It’s super friendly to the quarterback, which is always nice.”
That was the goal when Carolina selected McMillan over a defensive player to address the league’s worst unit in 2024. And it wasn’t a knock on Legette. In fact, the staff talked to him about the possibility of drafting another receiver before the draft.
Defensive coordinator Ejiro Evero already can see the benefits of the pick.
“I know that’s going to certainly put a lot of pressure on opponents, and that’s going to make us better [as a defense] as we work through the offseason working against them,” he said.
It all plays into Canales wanting this to become Young’s offense, as he enters his second year in the system. Young said that’s allowed him to “focus on growth rather than learning.”
Canales also wants a culture of players who don’t feel threatened by competition at their position. That’s why Legette’s acceptance of the McMillan pick was important.
“We all have that same goal,” Young said. “We just want to win offensively, we want to score and, as a team, do whatever it takes to win.”
