Carolina Panthers WR (& Certified Country Boy) Xavier Legette Shows Off Fresh Squirrel

Carolina Panthers wide receiver Xavier Legette is a national treasure.

Never heard of him? Well you must have missed out on the story that went viral in early December where the football player voiced (with his signature and shocking country twang) his love for a certain, specific, not-to-be-expected southern treat. I’ll cut right to the chase. Xavier Legette eats raccoons, and as he said on the St. Brown Podcast, he loves the whole process of hunting, killing, skinning, cooking and then eating the trash pandas:

“I eat raccoon. Like a raccoon you see in the trash can… I hunt it. I kill it. I skin ‘em. Cook ‘em. Eat ‘em. All that. It’s got its own taste. Everybody tries to say stuff tastes like chicken. But raccoon got its own taste.”

Good to know that raccoons have their own taste.

That quote spread all across the NFL world, even prompting a media member to bring it up with Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones. I personally believe that the reporter was just trying to get a laugh out of the 82-year-old president and general manager, and they ended up getting much more than that.

Some way or another, Jerry disclosed his love for squirrel brains:

“I’ve eaten a lot of raccoon… I’ve eaten it hunting. I’ve actually had it served by my mom at the table away from hunting. I have eaten raccoon. Yes, it’s not uncommon at all. I’ll tell you something, one of my favorites is squirrel. It’s wonderful. My mother could do a great job of it.

And we all had our favorite pieces and my dad and sister, I have one sibling, a sister, and they would fight over, not fight…but my mom and I wouldn’t even ask for the brain in a squirrel. Delicious. Seriously. But my sister always got it, or my dad.”

While we’re on the topic of squirrel…

Legette turned some heads today with his Instagram story, which featured the Panthers player in camouflage gear showing off the results of a successful squirrel hunt that he had just went on. Xavier can be seen in the video holding up a deceased squirrel and talking to someone off camera, saying:

“Hey I think they think we really be faking when we say we do this. We just busted the squirrel out of the tree and opened them up. Take the clothes off… that’s step one. Let me show you all the rest.”

Sure enough, Legette was holding up a partially skinned rodent to the camera as he said all of that. If you are a little squeamish, it might not be the easiest thing to look at. Especially since right after the video, it cuts to a shot of a couple of fully-fur-removed squirrels.

Just bear with it so you can enjoy the pure joy and excitement that’s all over Xavier Legette’s face:

Xavier Legette took the squirrel out the tree and “took the clothes off him”. Stay tuned for the cooking reel. #Panthers pic.twitter.com/QvcetYxdt5

— Sheena Quick (@Sheena_Marie3) January 10, 2025

People that aren’t from the south are horrified… let me tell you.

It’s nice to see that Xavier Legette is comfortable living his best life. With the money he’s making as an NFL player (he signed a 4-year, $12 million deal in 2024), he could be eating the finest cuisine in the world. That’s great and all, but he seems to prefer squirrel and raccoon.

More power to him…