Legette. Wrist surgery?

[kungfoodude]

13 minutes ago, Basbear said:

That's a good point, give XL more time as well!

 

I think they have around 30 years of WR coach experience(if you combine Moores playing career). That's one big load brother....

Lol. I mean, I don't think we have a choice on the time given.

I just saw nothing that made me think this is headed for success.

We will see. He needs to really come out and show some very improved hands.

[Icege]

It's a little silly how the Huddle slid right from "CJ > Bryce" to "Ladd > XL"

[mrcompletely11]

1 minute ago, Icege said:

It's a little silly how the Huddle slid right from "CJ > Bryce" to "Ladd > XL"

silly wouldnt be the word I would use

[MHS831]

15 hours ago, kungfoodude said:

Lol. I mean, I don't think we have a choice on the time given.

I just saw nothing that made me think this is headed for success.

We will see. He needs to really come out and show some very improved hands.

I agree, and my optimism is more aligned with hope than probability.  Here is why I still have hope:

He has had that wrist injury since 2021 and it was re-injured during the 8th game of the season. When I was in college, our WR coach worked with the TEs and WRs on pass reception/hands.  He played for the Browns.  He would tell us to avoid strengthening our wrists because a weak wrist absorbs the pass (like a car shock) and strong wrists--like the DL and OL and LBs etc. work on, hurts your ability to catch the ball--and you start body catching to compensate for the lost confidence in your hands when the wrist training was the problem.  Interesting.  I wonder if his hands issues are due to braces or support for his wrist or simply lost confidence from having that condition for so long?  Just a theory.

Before that injury (including the Saints game) he had 24 receptions for about 250 yards.  At QB during the time his wrist injury was not a concern, he had bad Bryce for 2 games, Andy for 2 games, and improving Bryce for 4 games.  Coker did not have to go through this as much, and was less impacted by a the chaos at QB, one might assume. 

So XL is now having surgery--do not know why he has waited if he has--and the QB position seems stable.  I worry that there will be no work on his hands while rehabbing his injury--and if he waits, he is in denial.  Maybe they wanted to get this new Strength and conditioning coach in place before moving forward.  I still think you have to give him a chance and go with him.

 

[Icege]

4 hours ago, MHS831 said:

I agree, and my optimism is more aligned with hope than probability.  Here is why I still have hope:

He has had that wrist injury since 2021 and it was re-injured during the 8th game of the season. When I was in college, our WR coach worked with the TEs and WRs on pass reception/hands.  He played for the Browns.  He would tell us to avoid strengthening our wrists because a weak wrist absorbs the pass (like a car shock) and strong wrists--like the DL and OL and LBs etc. work on, hurts your ability to catch the ball--and you start body catching to compensate for the lost confidence in your hands when the wrist training was the problem.  Interesting.  I wonder if his hands issues are due to braces or support for his wrist or simply lost confidence from having that condition for so long?  Just a theory.

Before that injury (including the Saints game) he had 24 receptions for about 250 yards.  At QB during the time his wrist injury was not a concern, he had bad Bryce for 2 games, Andy for 2 games, and improving Bryce for 4 games.  Coker did not have to go through this as much, and was less impacted by a the chaos at QB, one might assume. 

So XL is now having surgery--do not know why he has waited if he has--and the QB position seems stable.  I worry that there will be no work on his hands while rehabbing his injury--and if he waits, he is in denial.  Maybe they wanted to get this new Strength and conditioning coach in place before moving forward.  I still think you have to give him a chance and go with him.

 

I'm optimistic because one of the major knocks on XL as a prospect was being a one-year wonder that needed to level up his route running... and he did.

His routes were night and day compared to his time at USC, though there was still some of that awkwardness that Mike Kaye wrote about when he said that XL seems to make every catch more difficult for himself somehow.

He's shown the ability to get open deep as well as absorb shots over the middle. I think that Canales & Idzik are going to be trying to mold him into the team's X... which will hopefully include sticking him out on the jugs machine with Chuba (and Tommy, should he be retained).

Having said that... few things are more concerning for a WR than inconsistent, unreliable hands. Stick Coker's hands on XL (or give Coker XL's athleticism) and we've got a bad ass Frankenstein's monster to march out there.

Edited Tuesday at 09:01 PM by Icege

[MHS831]

32 minutes ago, Icege said:

I'm optimistic because one of the major knocks on XL as a prospect was being a one-year wonder that needed to level up his route running... and he did.

His routes were night and day compared to his time at USC, though there was still some of that awkwardness that Mike Kaye wrote about when he said that XL seems to make every catch more difficult for himself somehow.

He's shown the ability to get open deep as well as absorb shots over the middle. I think that Canales & Idzik are going to be trying to mold him into the team's X... which will hopefully include sticking him out on the jugs machine with Chuba (and Tommy, should he be retained).

Having said that... few things are more concerning for a WR than inconsistent, unreliable hands. Stick Coker's hands on XL (or give Coker XL's athleticism) and we've got a bad ass Frankenstein's monster to march out there.

Yep, and you can work on hands.  It reminds me of the chiropractor telling me to relax before he twists my skull around 90 degrees.  SO much of it is based on confidence, as you know--in the zone, its like picking apples off low-hanging branches.  Drop a pass or two, and you feel like you are trying to catch flies with chop sticks.  If his wrist has been bothering him, and if he has the surgery and starts catching jugs balls--50 a day from each hand angle (thumbs together, facing the qb--thumbs apart, back to qb-left thumb up (side), left thumb down, below your knees, etc.---and it becomes muscle memory---but yeah, he seems as if he is tense when the ball approaches.

[flagfootballcoach28]

We should draft the anti Xavier Legette. Tyler Warren. Great hands but won’t blow you away with athleticism 

[kungfoodude]

7 hours ago, MHS831 said:

I agree, and my optimism is more aligned with hope than probability.  Here is why I still have hope:

He has had that wrist injury since 2021 and it was re-injured during the 8th game of the season. When I was in college, our WR coach worked with the TEs and WRs on pass reception/hands.  He played for the Browns.  He would tell us to avoid strengthening our wrists because a weak wrist absorbs the pass (like a car shock) and strong wrists--like the DL and OL and LBs etc. work on, hurts your ability to catch the ball--and you start body catching to compensate for the lost confidence in your hands when the wrist training was the problem.  Interesting.  I wonder if his hands issues are due to braces or support for his wrist or simply lost confidence from having that condition for so long?  Just a theory.

Before that injury (including the Saints game) he had 24 receptions for about 250 yards.  At QB during the time his wrist injury was not a concern, he had bad Bryce for 2 games, Andy for 2 games, and improving Bryce for 4 games.  Coker did not have to go through this as much, and was less impacted by a the chaos at QB, one might assume. 

So XL is now having surgery--do not know why he has waited if he has--and the QB position seems stable.  I worry that there will be no work on his hands while rehabbing his injury--and if he waits, he is in denial.  Maybe they wanted to get this new Strength and conditioning coach in place before moving forward.  I still think you have to give him a chance and go with him.

 

The thing that makes me nervous about him is he seems to have invested very heavily into this online/media redneck persona versus seeing work. Now, that is obviously a perception versus reality thing but remember how impressed all of us were at the kind of workouts that Horn was doing in his first couple of seasons. He seemed to really, really pine for greatness and be a sponge for information.

Now, could you possibly attribute some of his injuries to working out too much(see McCaffery, Christian)? Maybe.

I am worried, and maybe unfairly so, that the bulk of the output we see for XL is somewhere between brand building and goofing off.

Hence why I am worried maybe he just isn't putting in the work. TBH, his college career has ample evidence for this theory.

We will see how it all shakes out. If we don't see much improvement over 2025, I think I will have all I need to make my judgement on the direction.

[jfra78]

8 minutes ago, kungfoodude said:

The thing that makes me nervous about him is he seems to have invested very heavily into this online/media redneck persona versus seeing work. Now, that is obviously a perception versus reality thing but remember how impressed all of us were at the kind of workouts that Horn was doing in his first couple of seasons. He seemed to really, really pine for greatness and be a sponge for information.

Now, could you possibly attribute some of his injuries to working out too much(see McCaffery, Christian)? Maybe.

I am worried, and maybe unfairly so, that the bulk of the output we see for XL is somewhere between brand building and goofing off.

Hence why I am worried maybe he just isn't putting in the work. TBH, his college career has ample evidence for this theory.

We will see how it all shakes out. If we don't see much improvement over 2025, I think I will have all I need to make my judgement on the direction.

One thing that was never questioned about XL coming out of college was his work ethic

[Move the Panthers to Raleigh]

On 2/17/2025 at 3:17 PM, kungfoodude said:

It's infuriating. A bunch of amateurs better than a multi-billion dollar organization.

I honestly would like to see what kind of team this forum could assemble. It would probably wouldn’t be too bad. We don’t overthink it here

[jfra78]

20 minutes ago, Move the Panthers to Raleigh said:

I honestly would like to see what kind of team this forum could assemble. It would probably wouldn’t be too bad. We don’t overthink it here

It would be a mess

[MHS831]

44 minutes ago, Move the Panthers to Raleigh said:

I honestly would like to see what kind of team this forum could assemble. It would probably wouldn’t be too bad. We don’t overthink it here

We are pretty immune to overthinking, I would say.

[BombzAway]

On 2/16/2025 at 2:25 PM, kungfoodude said:

The issue I think most have(myself included) is why are you having to train a 5 year college player and 1st round WR how to catch the ball?

And yet people still trust this GM and his scouts/crew to draft?

[kungfoodude]

4 hours ago, jfra78 said:

It would be a mess

It would be less of a mess than this organization has fielded under Tepper.