{"id":683950,"date":"2026-01-17T10:13:40","date_gmt":"2026-01-17T10:13:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/683950\/"},"modified":"2026-01-17T10:13:40","modified_gmt":"2026-01-17T10:13:40","slug":"panthers-gms-comments-imply-hes-unwilling-to-make-crucial-move","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/683950\/","title":{"rendered":"Panthers GM&#8217;s comments imply he&#8217;s unwilling to make crucial move"},"content":{"rendered":"<p id=\"inline-text-0\" class=\"mt-[18px] md:mt-0 mb-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"65\">In most cases, it&#8217;s perfectly fine to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.si.com\/nfl\/panthers\/onsi\/news\/carolina-panthers-coach-mike-tomlin-replacement-steelers\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">move on from something<\/a> even if you invested in it heavily. To continue trying and failing to make it work because of the investment is the sunk cost fallacy.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-1\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"68\">In some instances, it works out. The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.si.com\/nfl\/panthers\/onsi\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Carolina Panthers<\/a> continued to try to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.si.com\/nfl\/panthers\/onsi\/news\/grading-carolina-panthers-qb-bryce-young-2025\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">make Bryce Young work <\/a>after sending an insane haul to get him, and after three full seasons, it looks <a href=\"https:\/\/www.si.com\/nfl\/panthers\/onsi\/news\/worrying-trend-must-end-2026-carolina-panthers\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">like it has worked<\/a>. That doesn&#8217;t have to always be the case.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-2\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"6b\">In the case of the first-round draft pick that followed Young in 2024, the Panthers invested a good bit in Xavier Legette, but it&#8217;s clearly not working. Despite that, GM Dan Morgan sounds like an exec unwilling to pull the plug yet. <\/p>\n<p>Dan Morgan sounds unwilling to move on from Xavier Legette<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/01kf1mg29hv6hgqjgajd.jpg\" alt=\"Xavier Legett\" title=\"Xavier Legett\" width=\"3680\" height=\"2070\" class=\"undefined w-full w-full blur-[5px]\" q:id=\"6n\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Dec 21, 2025; Charlotte, North Carolina, USA; Carolina Panthers wide receiver Xavier Legette (17) runs on to the field before the game at Bank of America Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Bob Donnan-Imagn Images | Bob Donnan-Imagn Images<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-5\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"6r\">The Carolina Panthers traded the 33rd and 141st picks to the Buffalo Bills for the 32nd pick and a sixth-rounder in 2024. They picked Xavier Legette with that pick for two reasons. <\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-6\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"6u\">First, they felt he could be Bryce Young&#8217;s WR1. He likely would&#8217;ve fallen, but the Panthers made the deal to get him in round one so they could have the fifth-year option. In a sense, it&#8217;s not surprising that they don&#8217;t want to move on. <\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-7\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"6x\">However, in two years, it&#8217;s become clear that Legette isn&#8217;t working out here. He couldn&#8217;t surpass Adam Thielen in year one. Tetairoa McMillan came in as WR1, but Legette lost his WR2 role to Jalen Coker, a UDFA.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-8\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"70\">GM Dan Morgan, who made the Legette pick his very first after being promoted to general manager, isn&#8217;t ready to move on, even though he should be. <\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-9\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"73\">\u201cWe\u2019re all so quick to judge these guys. And maybe they\u2019re not developing as quick as the outside wants. But I think you\u2019ve gotta be patient with these guys. I think you\u2019ve gotta let \u2019em develop, you\u2019ve gotta let \u2019em grow,\u201d <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/athletic\/6967810\/2026\/01\/14\/panthers-dan-morgan-bryce-young-rico-dowdle\/?source=emp_shared_article\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">he said via The Athletic<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-10\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"76\">He was speaking about Legette, the first-round pick that year, and Trevin Wallace, a third-rounder. They sandwiched Jonathon Brooks, who has played three games in two years thanks to torn ACLs. As for Wallace and Legette, he&#8217;s not ready to call it. <\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-11\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"79\">\u201cTrevin\u2019s still 22 years old. Xavier, it took him till his senior year to really start developing and coming into his own at South Carolina. So I think we take a patient approach with those guys,&#8221; he said. <\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-12\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"7c\">The Panthers should probably let Legette go somewhere and get anything they can for him. It would be better for the Panthers and the wide receiver. However, Morgan isn&#8217;t ready to do that, and by the time he is, it might be too late.  <\/p>\n<p>&#8211; Enjoy more free Panthers coverage with Carolina Panthers on SI &#8211;<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-14\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"7i\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.si.com\/nfl\/panthers\/onsi\/news\/5-carolina-panthers-pending-free-agents-must-re-signed\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">5 Panther free agents who absolutely must be re-signed<\/a><\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-15\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"7l\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.si.com\/nfl\/panthers\/onsi\/news\/5-carolina-panthers-pending-free-agents-must-re-signed\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Potential Panthers FA target dubbed player to avoid<\/a><\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-16\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"7o\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.si.com\/nfl\/panthers\/onsi\/draft\/why-kenyon-sadiq-would-perfect-fit-panthers\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Why Kenyon Sadiq is perfect draft fit for Carolina Panthers<\/a><\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-17\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"7r\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.si.com\/nfl\/panthers\/onsi\/news\/carolina-panthers-seven-round-nfl-mock-draft-playoff-exit\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Carolina Panthers 1.0 mock draft after playoff elimination\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In most cases, it&#8217;s perfectly fine to move on from something even if you invested in it heavily.&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":683951,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[2075],"tags":[235,260,2567,7,6,236],"class_list":{"0":"post-683950","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-carolina-panthers","8":"tag-carolina","9":"tag-carolina-panthers","10":"tag-carolinapanthers","11":"tag-football","12":"tag-nfl","13":"tag-panthers"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/115909913678071780","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/683950","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=683950"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/683950\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/683951"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=683950"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=683950"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=683950"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}