NFL legend Shannon Sharpe joins chorus ripping Panthers rookie Xavier Legette for brutal drops

Hall of Fame tight end and NFL analyst Shannon Sharpe is just as disgusted as Panthers fans are with XL.

Tim Weaver | Dec 9, 2024

Shannon Sharpe gets the Savannah State student section fired up before a broadcast of \"First Take\" at SSU Monday. / Dennis Knight/Savannahnow.com / USA TODAY NETWORK

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Carolina Panthers

The Carolina Panthers took another step forward on Sunday, as they came achingly close to upsetting another Super Bowl contender. This time it was the Philadelphia Eagles, who very nearly had their now nine-game winning streak broken by Bryce Young, Josey Jewell and company. In fact, if not for a very untimely drop by rookie wide receiver Xavier Legette they would have been one extra point away from pulling off an unlikely victory.

Unfortunately, Legette just couldn't hang on to the beautiful ball that Young put in his hands on the team's final almost 98-yard scoring drive. While he initially appeared to have secured the catch Legette lost control on the way down and the ball hit the ground, resulting in an incompletion.

It wasn't the first or second bad drop by Legette in that game, and it's become a serious problem for the first-round draft pick. As you can imagine, the internet is piling on Legette now. Here's what NFL Hall of Famer Shannon Sharpe shared last night.

Shannon Sharpe on Xavier Legette drops

Legette gotta start making those plays. Enough of this my bad ish and next time. That was the next time. DAMN
— shannon sharpe (@ShannonSharpe) December 8, 2024

Perhaps the most frustrating part of this is that Legette is doing everything else well. His route running is solid for a rookie and he's consistently getting separation against defenders. However, he just can't hang onto the ball. For the season Legette is up to six drops, according to Pro Football Reference.

The core of the problem is with Legette's technique. Instead of extending his hands to make catches he keeps trying to bring the ball into his body, which is where he's losing control. Legette has to take the brunt of the blame, but at this point it's fair to question how he's being taught. Head coach Dave Canales was a wide receivers coach for a long time in Seattle and Carolina's current receivers coach Rob Moore has a ton of experience at this level. Until they can finally break this habit for Legette it will continue to be a major black eye for this staff.