Dave Canales revealed it in July. An attentive viewer of Canales' July 27 training camp press conference could have walked into Allegiant Stadium on Sunday and known exactly what the rookie head coach wanted to do when his offense had the football. “When we build our offense, we really try to put somebody at the forefront,” Canales explained this summer. “And for us, is Diontae Johnson the right player right now?”

In Sunday's surprise win over the Las Vegas Raiders, the answer to the question “Where is Diontae Johnson?” was “everywhere.”

Johnson caught eight balls for 122 yards and scored his first touchdown as a Carolina Panther. Those 122 yards are a career high for the 28-year-old wide receiver, whose best performance is still ahead of him. Resurgent quarterback Andy Dalton targeted Johnson 14 times on 37 pass attempts, a 37.8% target rate that has fantasy managers raving.

Johnson's achievement is the confluence of Canales' vision and the execution of the offense. The Panthers struggled to move the ball with Bryce Young at quarterback, and the switch to Andy Dalton as starting quarterback allowed Canales' system to flourish for the first time as a head coach. Johnson was the primary beneficiary of Canales' vision being realized for the first time in 2024.

Will Diontae Johnson put in that kind of performance every week with Canales in charge? Absolutely not. He'd have to be Jerry Rice or Antonio Brown to keep up that pace. But for Panthers fans who have been waiting for an alpha receiver to emerge in the post-DJ Moore era, what's even more important is that a performance like that from a Carolina receiver is even better. possible is a heartwarming thought. General manager Dan Morgan was aware of the Panthers' desperate need for a strong wide receiver to take their offense to the next level, and a deal with the Steelers that brought Johnson to Carolina filled that void on offense.

Johnson will face tougher opponents in the coming weeks. Lou Anaroumo and his elite corner duo of Cam Taylor-Britt and Dax Hill will invade Bank of America Stadium next week with one goal in mind: to cut off the head of the Panthers' offensive snake. Diontae Johnson. It will be up to Canales to find a way to get Johnson going in the coming weeks, even if the defense knows what to expect. He's already done it with alpha wide receivers Mike Evans and Chris Godwin in Tampa, and he promises to do it with Johnson in Charlotte.

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