Coker is in, Legette is out and ‘production’ is king at WR2 spot for Panthers
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Panthers have elevated Jalen Coker to WR2 after he outproduced Xavier Legette
- Coker played 92.2% of snaps in most recent game; Legette only 31.4%.
- Coaches cite Coker’s production, also call him a “shining star” in his run-game blocking.
As the Carolina Panthers prepare for their first playoff game in eight years, at home against the L.A. Rams at 4:30 p.m. Saturday, they are carving out a big role in the game plan for wide receiver Jalen Coker.
Why now? To fully understand that, let’s cue the dissolving mist and go back in time just a bit, when the Panthers acquired two notable rookie wide receivers in the spring of 2024.
One was Xavier Legette, the South Carolina product the team traded up to get with the 32nd and final pick of the draft’s first round.
One was Coker, signed a couple of weeks later, a rookie free agent out of Holy Cross who was a little smaller than Legette, a little slower and very much undrafted.
“I get it,” Coker said this week about not being among the 257 players taken in the 2024 NFL draft. “Low (level of) competition. Not a great 40. (Coker’s official 40-yard dash time at the NFL combine was 4.57).”
But where and if you get drafted — that only gets you so far. What you do on the field is how playing time is ultimately determined.
“It’s a production business,” Panthers offensive coordinator Brad Idzik said Wednesday, like so many football coaches have said before him.
And so while Coker came from a lot further back in this race than Legette, he’s now leading it. Coker has now supplanted Legette as Carolina’s WR2 — the starting wideout across from rookie Tetairoa McMillan, who remains the passing game’s focal point.
It has happened over the past five weeks, as Coker’s yardage numbers and snap counts have risen and Legette’s have declined. It was most apparent Saturday against Tampa Bay. Coker played 92.2% of the snaps.
Legette played only 31.4%, the first time all season when healthy that he’s been in for less than half of the offensive snaps. In fact, he only got as many snaps as rookie Jimmy Horn Jr., who also played 31.4%.
Coker rewarded the Panthers’ faith with a contested 8-yard catch for a fourth-quarter touchdown, and a team-high six receptions. And while the Panthers haven’t publicized his move in front of Legette, they are no longer shying away from the obvious:
Right now, Coker is playing better than Legette, and so he deserves to start and to play far more.
“I think anytime you talk about an increased role for one (receiver), it’s going to come at the expense of somebody else,” Idzik said. “Those guys still will have their pieces in the game plan. But again, as of late, Jalen has been doing a great job of making plays for us. And I just commend Xavier, and I commend Jimmy and some of the other guys that take the hit when somebody else is getting more looks.”
Said head coach Dave Canales earlier this week: “It’s a really big time for Jalen. He’s been stepping up and making plays for us. … This is a celebration of Jalen just continuing to step up into (more of a starter role).”
Why did it take this long? The Panthers traded Adam Thielen away, after all, in late August, partly because Coker was coming along so well. They could envision Coker as a major part of the 2025 offense already. But then Coker suffered a significant quad injury later that week.
“I was just, obviously, super upset,” Coker said.
The quad injury meant Coker would miss the first six games of the season. McMillan and Legette continued as starters. Coker wouldn’t play his first game this season until Oct. 19.
Gradually, he has become more and more a part of the offense. He’s always had good hands. But at a solid 6-3 and 213 pounds, he’s become a fine blocker in the run game, too.
“We just started to sprinkle a little bit more to him,” Idzik said, “and then you see him come to life in both phases of the game. We really harp on our guys that everybody’s involved in both the run and pass game. Jalen? He’s a shining star in that regard when it comes to the run game, because he is as physical as it gets. … And then when the ball is in the air, time and time again, he’s gone up and made plays for us.”
Said Coker: “It’s been a long journey for me, for sure. I mean, it’s only Year 2 for me. So I’m hoping that we can springboard off of this and build a big career.”
Said Panthers quarterback Bryce Young of Coker: “I can’t say enough about how he’s been playing, how he handles himself, the pro, the competitor he is. We’ve asked him to do so much in offense. We’ve asked him to be in a lot of different roles, in different positions.. … He’s never someone that says, ‘Why do I have to? Why am I doing this?’ He’s happy to be on the field.”
Legette, meanwhile, had an OK season in 2024 as a rookie but has seen all of his numbers slightly tail off in 2025. Coker’s overall numbers aren’t that impressive, either, though, because he missed those six games. Coker had 394 receiving yards in 2025; Legette had 363. Both have scored three receiving TDs and have caught between 33 and 35 balls for the season.
Perhaps the most important difference between the two is this:
Legette has caught the ball 54.6% of the time when he’s been targeted this season. Coker has caught his targets 76.7% of the time. Coker is simply been better on contested catches, and there are so many of those in the average NFL game.
Coker’s underdog/undrafted story has also meant he has gained a cult following. They call themselves “Cokeheads” — not a name I’m fond of, but whatever. One of my kids is among them. He called his fantasy football team “Cokeheads” in our family league this season.
The “Cokeheads” are a well-known enough commodity that a reporter asked Coker this week if he wanted to say anything to them about Saturday’s game.
“Yeah,” Coker said. “I hope they’re watching.”
This story was originally published January 8, 2026 at 5:00 AM with the headline "Coker is in, Legette is out and ‘production’ is king at WR2 spot for Panthers."
