North Charlotte Today

CHARLOTTE — Diontae Johnson has been here before. During his career in Pittsburgh, the wide receiver played with five different starting quarterbacks over the course of five seasons and never with one quarterback for an entire season. The reasons varied; some changes were due to injury, others to benching, but Johnson's job remained the same.

"Go out there and keep being you and keep running the same routes and getting open, there's nothing else to it," Johnson said Thursday. "It's just a different quarterback. They still going to put the ball in the right area and it's just your job as a receiver, you know, catch the ball and make a play."

Johnson is leaning on this experience as the Carolina Panthers move forward with Andy Dalton as starter against the Las Vegas Raiders after benching incumbent Bryce Young on Monday.

Johnson spent the offseason as Bryce Young's number one receiver, although it has struggled to translate to the regular season. Still, with Dalton taking over on Sunday, the Pro Bowl receiver doesn't see much changing for him.

"It don't affect me at all," Johnson promised. "It's football and stuff like that happens. It's big business at the end of the day, so you can't control what they do upstairs. So as a player, you can only control what's in front of you and then execute every play that they call."

Dalton has taken first-team reps during practice this week, giving receivers a crash course in his style. He only started for the Panthers once in 2023 (Week 3 against Seattle), so this week is especially important for those like Johnson, who arrived via trade this spring, and Xavier Legette, who was drafted in April's first round.

"I think we're still learning how Andy does things in the huddle, how he communicates. So, you know, that's an ongoing process, but we got a little taste of it last year, one game," Adam Thielen noted this week. "There's a lot of new guys here that just kind of...you know how he...his demeanor in the huddle, his communication...his snap count...all those things right on the line...changes the plays and things like that. So we're all learning his demeanor and kind of what he brings to the huddle. I think that's great for us all to see and all to hear."

As for what he brings to the huddle, Johnson can't help but note one attribute in particular: calmness that comes only with having spent years taking live bullets.

"Slow," Johnson drawled about how the game changes with Dalton. "It slows you down. You don't really got to think as much because obviously you got a vet that's been back there a while and that knows the game. So once you have a guy like that back there, it allows you just to be yourself a little more and not put too much on your plate.

"So he takes a lot off our plate just by having that experience and knowing what to do to get us in the right calls or whatever...knowing when pressure is coming and stuff like that."

Dalton's breadth of experience means he has been playing in the league for a long time—since his rookie season when Legette was 10 years old. Like most kids from South Carolina with football dreams, Legette latched onto Summerville's A.J. Green. That meant watching plenty of Andy Dalton football while Dalton lit up stat sheets with Green at Cincinnati Bengals.

Thirteen years later when Legette entered the league paired with Dalton during offseason twos practices—it didn't take long for Legette to realize they could establish a productive connection.

"I think he got a fine understanding of things that I like—the way how to throw [the ball] and how [to] position—so I feel like we're going be good," Legette said about their connection."I say mostly on go balls—the right timing—and [the] right amount [of air]…for me."

Even when Legette began running more with first-team reps thanks partly due Dave Canales' plan according him:

"Everything is same coach did good job implementing Andy one's offense well whole camp so don't think nothing fall out"

Knowing they'll be field together weekend though staying after practice work areas feels best bring Panthers:

"The deep ball—that something feel I'm good working every day after practice," said

Sunday will two days shy year since last time started game Carolina Panthers—but already under belt means panicking calm cool collected…just like their quarterback:

Said: "When you're out there—you know what you're getting—and player—you like"