It took one quarter for a Panthers breakout candidate to disappoint fans

The Tetairoa McMillan era has begun in Carolina and it looks like it'll be a fun one. In the first quarter of Friday's preseason game against the Cleveland Browns, quarterback Bryce Young found McMillan on a beautiful sideline toss, which McMillan adjusted perfectly for and brought down for 30 yards. The duo connected again later on the drive for 13 yards.

Jalen Coker finished the drive with a touchdown catch, and he's also expected to be a pretty important part of Carolina's offense after showing some promising flashes in his rookie year.

Xavier Legette, meanwhile, was ejected for fighting with Browns safety Rayshawn Jenkins, before he caught a pass or was targeted once. That's about as disappointing a start to the 2025 season as I can imagine for Legette.

Being thrown out of a preseason game is ridiculous on its own, but doing so less than 10 minutes into a game you had no impact on is a pretty rough look. This take might make me sound like an old man, but this isn't the tone you want to set for a season that's pretty important for your standing on a team.

Xavier Legette ejected as Panthers other wide receivers produce

On the Panthers' first depth chart of the season, Legette was listed as a starting wide receiver alongside the rookie McMillan and the longtime veteran Adam Thielen. Of course, Legette's starting position isn't going to be lost because of one silly mistake in a preseason game.

And still — why? There's tons of wide receiver competition on this team and the preseason is where a guy like Legette, who was awesome at points last season, to show that he's miles ahead of backups and practice squad-level players.

This isn't how you do that! This is how you make the coaching staff think (fairly or not) that you don't actually care at all. Ugh.

Legette's rookie season was a rollercoaster

At times, Legette looked like a clear-cut, bona fide future WR1 in his rookie season last year. He finished with 497 yards and four touchdowns on the season. Other times, he looked like a guy who wouldn't last more than a few years in the league. I tend to give grace to rookies, especially those in not-perfect situations like Legette was.

So, 2025 already felt like a make-or-break year for the former South Carolina Gamecocks star. Will he leap to a 1000-yard plus receiver and team up with McMillan as a great young receiver tandem? Or would he be the odd man out in a crowded WR room?

One preseason game isn't going to give us the answer to that, of course, adn we could have forgotten all about this by Week 1. Still, you can't prove your value to a team if you're not, well, on the field.