CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- Xavier Legette's big smile and deep Southern drawl are infectious.
They are part of the reason fellow Carolina Panthers wide receiver Adam Thielen looks forward to coming to work every day. They are among the first things fans on social media mention, even when the 2024 first-round pick out of South Carolina had to explain his ejection from the Panthers' first preseason game for fighting.
In many ways it has become his trademark.
But Legette wants to be known more for making big plays on the field, like the double-move touchdown catch in tight coverage against cornerback Jaylin Smith in Thursday's joint practice against the Houston Texans.
Legette played the Bryce Young pass perfectly, grabbing it with his hands before bringing it into his body softly.
It was the kind of play the 6-foot-3, 227-pounder often failed to make during his rookie season. His eight drops on 81 targets (14%) were the third highest in the league among players with at least 75 targets.
The potential game-winning 33-yard touchdown that slipped through his arms with 45 seconds left in a Week 13 loss against the eventual Super Bowl champion Philadelphia Eagles gets mentioned the most.
Legette was equally upset about another 33-yard fourth-quarter drop in a loss to the eventual AFC champion Kansas City Chiefs in Week 12. He felt so bad that he texted Young an apology.
He is most bothered by a Week 4 loss to the Cincinnati Bengals, when he had two drops and could have been credited with one or two more.
Talking about his rookie drops makes his trademark smile disappear.
"Those were the main ones, the bad ones,'' Legette said in an interview with ESPN. "It affected me in a way; how it made me feel. Just how we lost those games. It could have changed [the outcome].''
Legette admitted the drops got into his head.
"It's always gonna be the next-play mentally,'' he said. "But it always will be in the back of my head, trying to focus on catching.''
Legette's honesty is almost as endearing as his smile. He apologized to fans via social media shortly after that preseason ejection.
"It was just something I shouldn't have did,'' Legette said a few days later. "That's not supposed to happen in a football game, and I just feel like I owed the fans an apology.''
Ultimately, Legette wants to be trusted as a receiver and prove Carolina made the right call trading up to draft 32nd overall in 2023. He also understands his rookie season created enough doubt that the organization used the eighth pick of this year's draft on Arizona's Tetairoa McMillan, who will enter the season as the No. 1 receiver.
Legette's embraced McMillan's arrival and took it as a challenge to improve his game without worry of who is WR1 or WR2.
"He's the high draft pick, so they're going to target him,'' Legette said. "That could open it up for me as well. It could go hand to hand''
Legette's focus simply is to "hone in'' on details.
"I know the assignments way better than I did last year,'' he said. "It's given me the chance to come out here and play with confidence and not be thinking about how I'm going to be able to do this and that.''
A big part of Legette's offseason was spent working on catching with his hands more than his body and creating more separation.
"The main thing is taking away those critical drops at critical moments,'' Legette said. "That's what I showed last year. But at the same time, that wasn't me.''
Offensive coordinator Brad Idzik doesn't see a player threatened by McMillan's arrival. He sees one trying to improve.
"You give the guy a coaching point and he's going to try to do it exactly the way you say,'' he said. "So there's a happy medium there with a guy who's fast and physical, to just let him run, and then give him the tidbit he might need to run a route.''
Pro Bowl cornerback Jaycee Horn sees "small nuances'' that he believes will make Legette better.
"Like coming back to the ball,'' he said. "He just seems more comfortable in his self.''
Legette's offseason wasn't all about getting better. He was a guest analyst at the Kentucky Derby, where celebrity Chef Guy Fieri failed to get his raccoon recipe out of him.
And there were plenty of posts of Legette riding his horse, "Dolla Bill,'' which he pretends to ride when celebrating a touchdown.
Legette is all about enjoying life -- even if it includes making jokes about his accent that is so distinct Thielen had to translate for receivers coach Rob Moore in meetings last year.
"No one knows what he's saying except for me,'' Thielen said.
No one appreciates Legette more than Thielen.
"He's just a great personality,'' he said. "He's exactly why I enjoy coming to work every day. He's a fun guy to be around. He's always laughing and smiling and having fun.''
Thielen also said Legette "is all about the work," which paid off in the joint practice at Houston with a catch that made everybody else smile.
Legette hopes catches like that will soon become infectious too.
