Diontae Johnson’s career best performance is the realization of Dave Canales’ offensive philosophy

Matt Alquiza | Sep 22, 2024

Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

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Carolina Panthers

Dave Canales gave it away in July. An observant viewer of Canales’ training camp press conference from July 27th 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. “As we build our offense, we really try to feature someone," Canales stated this summer. "And for us right now, where’s Diontae Johnson at?”

In Sunday’s upset victory over the Las Vegas Raiders, the answer to “where’s Diontae Johnson at?” was “everywhere.”

Johnson's career day

Johnson hauled in eight catches for 122 yards and his first touchdown as a Carolina Panther. Those 122 yards are a career high for the 28-year-old wide out who’s best football is still ahead of him. Resurgent quarterback Andy Dalton targeted Johnson a whopping 14 times on 37 pass attempts for a 37.8% target share that fantasy managers drool over.

Diontae Johnson with Andy Dalton under center today:

🐆 8 catches
🐆 122 receiving yards (career-high)
🐆 1 TD
🐆 14 targets (37.8% target share)
— Field Yates (@FieldYates) September 22, 2024

Johnson’s performance is the confluence of Canales’ vision and the offense’s execution. The Panthers struggled to move the ball with Bryce Young under center, and the move to Andy Dalton as the starting quarterback allowed Canales’ system to thrive for the first time as a head coach. Johnson was the primary beneficiary of Canales' vision being actualized for the first time in 2024.

Will Diontae Johnson put up number like this every week with Canales in charge? No way. He’d have to be Jerry Rice or Antonio Brown to keep up this pace. But, for Panthers fans who have been waiting for an alpha receiver to emerge in the post-DJ Moore era, knowing that a performance like this from a Carolina receiver is even possible is a heartwarming thought. General manager Dan Morgan was well aware of the Panthers desperate need for a stud wide receiver to take their offense to the next level, and a deal with the Steelers to bring Johnson to Carolina filled that hole on offense.

Johnson will face tougher matchups in the coming weeks. Lou Anaroumo and his top-end corner duo of Cam Taylor-Britt and Dax Hill will descend upon Bank of America Stadium next week with a one goal in mind: cut off the head of the Panthers’ offensive snake. Diontae Johnson. Leave it to Canales to find a way for Johnson to get loose in the coming weeks even though defenses know what's coming. He's done it before with alpha wide receivers Mike Evans and Chris Godwin in Tampa, and he promises to do it with Johnson in Charlotte.