Panthers head coach Dave Canales expressed support for wide receiver Xavier Legette following a slow start to the season. Legette, a first-round pick in 2024, has recorded four catches for 10 yards this year and had one catch for minus-2 yards in Sunday’s loss to the Cardinals. Last season, he posted 49 catches for 497 yards and four touchdowns.
“I believe in Xavier,” Canales said when asked if he considered benching Legette. “This is a guy that I truly believe because of the way he’s wired, the way that he works. The way that he continues to train. He had a great week of practice; he played better. He had some opportunities on the field where the ball didn’t go his way. I tried to get him a few early touches. They didn’t amount to much, but as the game kind of went on, a few of the other targets, they were close plays. He didn’t make them, but I think it’s a matter of just finding opportunities.
“I believe in him. I believe that he’s approached this the right way and just continues to work. So I’m going to continue to encourage him and be in his corner and push him to keep striving for that, and keep working on his chemistry with Bryce, because he’s got the talent. I think at times he can be hard on himself, and he can be really critical of himself, and I wanted to make sure that he knows he’s supported, that we’ve got to play ball, let’s go. And there’s that balance of pushing him, and there’s that balance of also saying, you got this, remember who you are.”
Legette’s playing time has remained steady; both he and Tetairoa McMillan have been present for about 80 percent of offensive snaps.
Addressing questions about Legette’s pace during hurry-up offense situations shown in video clips from Sunday’s game, Canales cited fatigue due to an increased number of offensive plays—85 total snaps—leading to more frequent substitutions in the second half.
“We subbed TMac and Xavier out quite a bit in that second half because we were in tempo with the lead that the Cardinals had, and so both guys were pretty gassed during that time,” Canales said. “But that’s something in general we talked to his defense, offense, whoever that is, like we want guys to be hustling, we want guys to show up and do their job with urgency.”
Canales stated there are no plans to change starters despite Jalen Coker being on injured reserve after suffering a quad injury in Week 1; Coker cannot return before two more weeks.
Reviewing Sunday’s 27-22 loss against Arizona as part of “Tell the Truth Monday,” Canales discussed both positive takeaways and areas needing improvement from film review.
He noted the team rallied from a 27-3 deficit by scoring three unanswered touchdowns on offense while defense intercepted Kyler Murray and special teams recovered an onside kick—a rare event since new NFL rules took effect last season.
“I think it’s just a collective thing. I think it’s—you know, Bryce Young represents kind of the belief of the whole team, that we’ll finish. We’re going to finish. We’re not going to quit. We’re going to keep fighting and scrapping,” Canales said.
“And I look at that second half and and I see three phases of the team playing really good football, outside of really one drive for the opening drive of the second half for the defense, and I saw a full team play together in all three phases, and it took all three to fight us back to give us a chance to win the game there at the last drive.”
The Panthers’ final drive ended without points after several penalties moved them into a fourth-and-15 situation at Arizona’s 38-yard line with 33 seconds left; Calais Campbell sacked quarterback Bryce Young on Carolina’s last play.
Canales reflected on decisions made during this final possession: “I thought they had some nice rushes. I, of course, I’ve watched it now three times and just looking at what I could have called here, what I could have called there when they did this coverage, and I’m standing in the back kind of trying to evaluate the coverage live and get us to the best possible plays there. I’ll be rethinking that drive, at least for today, a couple more times,” said Canales.
“But you know I think execution all across the board, calling the right plays for the group… We try to chunk it down a little bit.”
Injuries will impact Carolina’s lineup moving forward as starting center Austin Corbett and right guard Robert Hunt will be placed on injured reserve after being hurt against Arizona.
“So two studs two guys that we count on in locker room on field their leadership their positivity their hard work all those things we’re certainly going miss those guys being out there,” Canales said. “They’ll be around us… but we’ll miss them on field.”
