Biggest storylines for Panthers vs. Falcons in Week 3

You know you’re a hot topic of conversation in the Carolina Panthers universe when both all-time leading passer Cam Newton and all-time leading receiver Steve Smith Sr. are talking about you . . . on multiple occasions . . . on multiple days.

That’s the situation for second-year wideout Xavier Legette, who is off to an absolute nightmare of a start here in 2025.

So, let’s cover that, and the rest of this week’s biggest storylines as the Panthers welcome in the division rival Atlanta Falcons this Sunday.

Riding out the storm

Congratulations! You—yes, you—had more receiving yards than Legette this past Sunday!

Ok, fine. That’s not much of a compliment given that he was the first wideout to ever post negative receiving yards with at least eight targets. And his sloppy showing in the season opener wasn’t very productive either, as he enters Week 3 with a grand total of eight receiving yards on four catches.

Nevertheless, the confidence in the 2024 first-round pick—whether it’s from his head coach, his teammates or himself—hasn’t wavered.

Head coach Dave Canales assured reporters that he would not be cutting Legette’s snaps moving forward. In fact, Canales said he’ll even look for more ways to get the struggling 24-year-old involved.

Legette doesn’t seem too down either, or at least that’s what he claims. He stated on Thursday that he’ll just have to ride the storm, and things will pop when they pop.

Hopefully for the unbalanced Panthers offense, the pop starts popping off on Sunday. And hopefully for Legette, who is questionable for the contest with hamstring soreness, he gets his chance to show why we shouldn’t count him out just yet.

Interior redesign

Part of the imbalance on that offense may show up on the interior of the trench, where starting center Austin Corbett and starting right guard Robert Hunt are, well, no longer starting. Both have been placed on injured reserve this week, as the former deals with an MCL injury and the latter a biceps tear.

In their stead, respectively, will be Cade Mays and Chandler Zavala. And unfortunately, one of those next men up has had a lot of downs over his short career.

It’s not Mays, who may actually be an upgrade over Corbett given his success in eight of the team’s final nine games of 2024. That run for Mays coincided with the exciting resurgence of quarterback Bryce Young.

So, yeah, it’s Zavala—who hasn’t been very reliable since coming into the league as a fourth-round pick in 2023. Per Pro Football Focus, Zavala has allowed a combined 36 pressures in his nine career starts, and allowed three over his 18 opportunities in place of Hunt in Week 2.

But he’ll have to step up, as a pass protector for Young and as a road grader for a stagnant ground game that’s averaged 3.7 rushing yards per attempt.

All eyes on No. 7

Pretty much every running back who faced the last year’s Panthers defense went off. The unit not only allowed the most points ever, but also gave up a staggering 179.8 rushing yards per contest—almost 40 more yards than the next closest team.

Falcons running back Bijan Robinson contributed quite a bit to that tally. In his two games against Carolina, he rushed for a total of 265 yards on 43 carries (6.2 yards per attempt) and four touchdowns.

Robinson carried the success of his breakout 2024 campaign into 2025, where he’s already chalked up 167 rushing yards and 125 receiving yards.

On the bright side, the Carolina run defense has improved with the return of Pro Bowl lineman Derrick Brown—who missed 16 of 17 games this past season. He and the Panthers held a potent Arizona Cardinals ground attack to just 82 yards on 22 tries.

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This article originally appeared on Panthers Wire: Panthers vs. Falcons 2025: Biggest storylines for Week 3

Biggest storylines for Panthers vs. Falcons in Week 3

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