Right before midnight, just as the 1st round of the NFL Draft was coming to an end and I prepared to pack up my belonging and head home from Bank of America Stadium a fellow reporter yelled out “they traded up!”
“You lying,” I said.
Four hours of fighting sleep, watching a draft where the team you cover doesn’t have a first round pick was brutal, but I decided to thug it out just in case. That just in case happened when the Carolina Panthers traded their 33rd 2nd round pick and 141st picks to the Bills, in exchange for Buffalo’s spot at 32 overall and 200 overall (in the 6th round) to draft University of South Carolina wide receiver Xavier Legette.
Legette was always on the Panthers radar, so much so that he told Texan’s Wire’s John Crumpler this week that the team said that they planned on selecting him ahead of Thursday’s draft.
“They’re really hoping I can make it to the second round. They keep telling me if I’m sitting at 33, they’re going to take me.”
When asked about the comment this week, head coach Dave Canales deflected as best as he could.
“I definitely said that to him and about 50 other guys. If we take you at 33 … it’s actually a lead-in question. ‘So when we draft you at 33, what happens now?’ There’s a bunch of questions that happen after that so, yeah it’s part of the process.”
Now we can tell the whole world
— Carolina Panthers (@Panthers) April 26, 2024@Verizon | #KeepPounding pic.twitter.com/6t2792etVS
It was the perfect poker face-like answer, but the truth is Legette was always their guy and he knew since February’s Senior Bowl.
“I would say at the Senior Bowl,” Legette said when asked when he felt it was a good chance that the Panthers would draft him. “We had three days where we had to meet with teams and each day I had a meeting with the Panthers at least. That’s really when I realized like, okay, they really want me. They like me.”
But the Panthers didn’t just like the Mullins, South Carolina native.
“We loved him,” a beaming Canales said when asked if the Panthers have been high on Legette for a while. “I’m not going to sit here and lie about that for sure.”
But the new Panthers head coach really lit up when asked about when he saw when watching Legette’s tape.
“First of all, just the athletic traits,” Dave answered. “Just like height, weight, speed. 6’1,221, 4.39, really balanced hands. That’s a pretty good start. Then you look at the versatile ways that the Gamecocks were able to use him out of the backfield, jet sweeps, short crossers, and perimeter screens, down the field post. There really isn’t much else we do with receivers. He’s done it all.”
“Does he need polish? Absolutely,” he continued. “But to be able to see that on film gives you a lot of confidence and it really helps me envision him fitting into our offense.”
“Everything he brought, not only as a person, but as a player,” general manager Dan Morgan said when asked when made them make the decision to trade up to select Legette. “His ability to attack the ball when it’s in the air and his ability to run with it after the catch. He’s just big. He’s strong. He’s physical. I think he has a lot of upside. We wanted to take that opportunity to go get our guy.”
That’s buy-in…on all sides. And when you have that amount of conviction you do what it takes to get the guy you want – not to mention that the 1st round selection gives the Panthers the ability and flexibility of exercising a 5th year option.
After last year’s debacle, I’m very bearish when it comes to this team and setting expectations, but the one thing I can be bullish on is the clear vision and plan Dan Morgan and company have had during free agency and so far in the NFL Draft. That’s encouraging and something fans should be excited about.