Who Should I Start? Xavier Legette or Jayden Higgins

Saturday, August 9, 3:36 PM

Carolina Panthers wide receiver Xavier Legette was ejected from Friday's preseason game against the Cleveland Browns after a first-quarter altercation. The 24-year-old did not record any catches or targets before being thrown out of the 30-10 loss. Legette was a first-round pick in last year's draft, with a rookie stat line of 49-49-4 on 84 targets. Panthers head coach Dave Canales acknowledged that while the play was physical, Legette's response was a liability. "You can't do that... both guys got ejected, rightfully so," Canales said, per Darin Gantt of panthers.com. The incident occurred while Legette was downfield blocking and got tangled up with Browns cornerback Rayshawn Mitchell. RotoBaller projects Legette as WR69 with a slight uptick in catches, yards, and TDs this season. He is most likely to be behind rookie stud Tetairoa McMillan and veteran Adam Thielen in targets. Still, he could emerge as an upside WR4/5 if anything happens to Thielen as the season progresses.

Friday, September 5, 10:48 PM

Houston Texans Wide Receiver Jayden Higgins could be called upon as the team's second receiver in his NFL debut since Christian Kirk (hamstring) has been ruled out. Higgins was listed on the team's unofficial depth chart as starting next to Kirk and Nico Collins, but with Kirk out, he could draw even more targets against a tough Rams' defense. Higgins was impressive in training camp and finished with five catches on seven targets for 40 yards in the preseason. The No. 34 overall pick in last year's draft is viewed as a carbon copy of Collins' skill set, and he could be very involved right away. He's the WR58 in RotoBaller's Week 1 rankings, so he's still a long-shot starter, but he could be a FLEX flier worth considering in deep leagues. He's definitely an important rookie to watch in Week 1 to evaluate how ready he is to contribute moving forward.