Xavier Legette — 2026 Fantasy Outlook

Carolina used the final pick of the first round (No. 32 overall) on Legette in the 2024 draft. A blazing 4.39 40-yard dash at the combine boosted his stock considerably, especially paired with his 6'1", 220-pound frame. He projects best as a downfield weapon. His route-running needs polish, and his release off the line is inconsistent, so most of his production comes once he's 10-plus yards past the line of scrimmage. Legette will win contested catches and can blow past corners on go routes, and he's dangerous once he gets the ball in space.

His college usage was light early on: from 2019 through 2022 at South Carolina, Legette managed just 42 catches, 444 yards, and five scores, with injuries (a hamstring injury in 2020 and a motorcycle accident in 2021) costing him additional time. Everything changed in 2023, when he paced the Gamecocks with 71 catches and 1,255 yards to go with seven touchdowns, averaging a robust 17.7 yards per reception. Four games stood out as career highlights (9/178, 5/189/2, 9/217/2, and 9/120), and Leggette was remarkably steady otherwise, hitting at least five catches in 10 of his 12 starts.

As a rookie, Legette played all 16 games, finishing with 49 catches, 497 yards, and four touchdowns on 84 targets. His catch profile skewed shorter than his college tape suggested, likely a byproduct of Bryce Young needing quicker throwing windows.

His standout outing came in Week 4 (6/76/1), and his only other usable fantasy weeks came when Legette found the end zone (3/23/1, 4/34/1, and 4/39/1), but each of those came with a yards-per-catch average under 10.0. Across his remaining 12 games, he totaled just 32 catches for 325 yards without a touchdown on 57 targets, translating to only 5.38 PPR points per game. A hip injury knocked him out of Week 16.

Legette has the look of a winning backend sleeper wideout in 2025, especially in BestBall formats. Unfortunately, he opened last year with unplayable fantasy stats (8/50/1 on 20 targets) across six weeks while sitting out Weeks 3 and 4 with a hamstring issue. Legette flashed in Week 7 (9/92/1) with some fantasy help four games later (4/83/1). The return of Jalen Coker led to 10 other empty fantasy days (15/146/0 on 29 targets) to end the year.