Panther wideouts finally got going in Sunday’s win. But change may still be on the way.

The wide receiving corps for the Carolina Panthers had what was by far its best day of the 2024 regular season Sunday in the team’s 36-22 win over the Las Vegas Raiders.

Change may be coming — again — though.

Veteran wide receiver Adam Thielen hurt his hamstring late in the second quarter while stretching out to grab a 31-yard touchdown pass from Andy Dalton. First declared questionable to return, Thielen was soon listed as “out” for the rest of the game. Afterward, Thielen was walking around the locker room and said he didn’t know the extent of the injury.

“Just trying to figure it out,” he said of the hamstring injury. “Don’t know a lot right now. But hopefully — you know, I’ve had a little bit of experience with this. So hopefully, back pretty quickly.”

If Thielen doesn’t return to play in Carolina’s next game at home against Cincinnati on Sept. 29, it should pave the way for rookie Xavier Legette’s first start. Legette had the biggest play of his young NFL career Sunday. The former South Carolina star caught only one pass but took it 35 yards with a nice run.

The Panthers’ receiving standout Sunday, though, was wide receiver Diontae Johnson, who had exactly the sort of day the Panthers envisioned when they acquired him in the offseason to add some juice to a group that simply didn’t make enough explosive plays in 2023.

Johnson, who had caught five passes for only 34 yards total in the first two games with Bryce Young, had a huge game while playing pitch and catch with Dalton. Johnson ended up being targeted 14 times and catching eight of those for 122 yards and a touchdown. The TD was a difficult grab from 5 yards out against man-to-man coverage, and Johnson also had a 35-yard reception and a number of other key plays.

After the game, Johnson praised Dalton’s “veteran presence.”

“You’ve got a veteran quarterback who’s been in the game,” Johnson said. “Experienced. You need a guy like that. That makes the offense play harder. Not saying we weren’t doing that with Bryce. But it’s different when you’ve got a vet, because you know what to expect from him. You know what you’re getting.”

Said Thielen: “Everyone on this team has a lot of confidence in what Andy can do. And it’s not just because of what he’s done in the past. It’s because of his consistency throughout OTAs, training camp and last year through this season. … And then you earn that respect as the game goes on, too. You start making some plays. You start taking some hits and delivering the ball.”

Dalton did all of that, spreading out his 26 completions to seven different receivers. He never was intercepted, although it was close a couple of times, and he ended up with a 123.6 quarterback rating after a 26-of-37, 319-yard, 3-TD day.

“It’s not always going to be like that,” Dalton warned. And if the Panthers are without Thielen for a few weeks — an average amount of time for that type of injury — it may well be up to Legette and fellow wideout Jonathan Mingo to take up the slack.