NFL Draft 2024: Panthers trade into first round to select South Carolina WR Xavier Legette

The Carolina Panthers added a talented wide receiver prospect to their roster with their first pick in the 2024 NFL Draft.

On Thursday, the Panthers acquired the final selection of the first round from the Buffalo Bills to draft South Carolina wide receiver Xavier Legette. Carolina traded the 33rd and 141st overall picks to Buffalo for the 32nd and 200th overall picks.

Selecting Legette in the first round will give the Panthers a valuable fifth-year option for his rookie contract if he succeeds in Carolina during his first three seasons — which is something general manager Dan Morgan weighed heavily.

“That fifth-year option was definitely important,” Morgan told reporters in Bank of America Stadium in the wee hours of Friday morning. “I think that was obviously a big reason to trade up into the first round. Besides the player — we loved Xavier. Everything he brought, not only as a person but as a player: his ability to attack the ball when it’s in the air, 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. So we wanted to take that opportunity to go get our guy.”

The Panthers didn’t have a first-round pick coming into Day 1, as their original top pick — the first overall selection — was sent to the Chicago Bears as part of last year’s trade-up to No. 1 to select quarterback Bryce Young.

Legette, 23, will come in and immediately compete for playing time at wideout, which was seen as an obvious need heading into the draft. While the Panthers acquired Diontae Johnson in an offseason trade, Carolina still had depth concerns at the position, and the franchise was looking for upgrades.

In a widely shared podcast interview earlier this week, Legette said that he expected the Panthers to take him if he was still on the board by the time Carolina made a pick — and it turns out the Mullins, S.C., native was right.

“We loved him, I’m not going to sit here and lie about that,” Panthers coach Dave Canales said when asked about Legette’s prognostications. “But I meant what I said: there were a lot of guys that we were excited about in that area. You know, 33, even late in the first round. And I think it was just really cool for me in my first experience, really being in the draft room for the whole time. To see the whole process. ... For us, this whole process has been about, ‘Let’s get guys, not just great football players, but guys that really are us. That are Panthers.’ So this is a memorable one for sure for us.”

Legette had a breakout campaign during his final year with the Gamecocks, producing 71 catches for 1,255 yards and seven touchdowns. He ran an impressive 4.39-second 40-yard dash at 6-foot-1 and 221 pounds in Indianapolis at the NFL Scouting Combine. Canales specifically mentioned his versatility as an asset — which is only substantiated by the fact that Morgan said he envisions him being involved in special teams.

Ideally, Legette will outlast last year’s second-round pick Jonathan Mingo for snaps as a rookie. Legette is the highest-drafted wide receiver for the Panthers since DJ Moore was taken with the 24th overall pick in 2018.

Legette was the seventh overall receiver taken on Thursday.

“We liked some of those guys,” Morgan said of the receivers taken earlier in the draft. “With Xavier out there, we were just like, ‘We don’t want to put ourselves in a bad situation where we’re not going to be able to get the guy we want to get.’ He was our target. We really liked him. And we went and got him.”

The Panthers still have six more picks in the draft class, including the 39th overall pick in the second round.

At 12:45 a.m. Friday, Legette himself was still floating in the moment.

“I didn’t know what to expect when I heard my name called,” the newly minted rookie said. “And once they called me, and told me they were trading up for me, it was a whole lot of excitement.”

As far as what he could bring to the Panthers?

“It’s a grown man’s game, and I’m a grown man,” Legette said. “And I’m going to play against a whole lot of grown men. I’m going to bring that (play) to the Panthers.”

Carolina Panthers’ remaining draft picks

▪ First round, 32nd overall pick (via Buffalo Bills from Kansas City Chiefs): Xavier Legette, WR, South Carolina

▪ Second round, 46th overall pick (via Indianapolis Colts): Jonathon Brooks, RB, Texas

▪ Third round, 72nd overall pick (via New York Jets)

▪ Fourth round, 101th overall

▪ Fifth round, 157th overall (via Jets)

▪ Sixth round, 200th overall (via Bills)

▪ Seventh round, 240th overall (via Pittsburgh Steelers)