CHARLOTTE — Having a rookie step up on offense is kind of expected, at least from wide receiver Tetairoa McMillan, who has been on one all year.

But for the Panthers Sunday in their 27-24 comeback win over the Dolphins, it was the third day of the 2025 draft that saved the day.

From fifth-round tight end Mitchell Evans' game-winning touchdown reception to Jimmy Horn Jr.'s game-saving fourth-down catch in his first NFL game to running back Trevor Etienne subbing in for some big runs when needed, the Panthers got a lot of pop from their late-round rookies.

All three played a role in the game-winning drive, with quarterback Bryce Young unafraid to go to untested players with the game on the line.

"Yeah, we're counting on them," Panthers head coach Dave Canales said of the first-year players. "We're counting on our rookies to be a part of what we're doing, and I see them take strides every week. It happens in practice, and it's the ownership of what we're doing which allows you to play fast.

"And I saw those guys just be confident out there, and Bryce trusts them, and Bryce is going to give them opportunities when they present themselves."

On a day full of big plays, there was none bigger than Evans' touchdown with 1:59 left, which gave the Panthers the lead for the second and final time.

It was the fifth-rounder from Notre Dame's second touchdown, and his first-game winner. It was the kind of thing you dream about all your life, but Evans laughed and said it didn't go nearly as he planned.

He said his only thought upon catching was "Just catch it, secure it, and lock it up. Don't get a fumble at the 1-yard line at the end of the game."

"That was kind of my thought, but after that I don't really know; I kind of blacked out," Evans said. "I had a whole tight end celebration planned, and it just completely went out the window, and I just spiked it.

"If success is winning, that's fine. If I fail my touchdown dance, I don't care."

Evans entered the season as the third man on a four-man depth chart at his position, but he has made the most of his work. With starter Ja'Tavion Sanders out with an ankle injury last week against the Patriots, he had three catches for 23 yards and his first touchdown.

For the season, he has six catches for 45 yards and two touchdowns, a highly efficient stat line.

Evans is a very matter-of-fact rookie, which is helpful in a game in which they fell behind 17-0 before mounting a franchise-record-tying comeback.

"We all knew if we take one play time and play Panther ball, we'd be all right," he said. "Just one play at a time. There's no 20-point play, so just take it one at a time.

"We know we're capable of playing at a high level and just doing that consistently, so we've shown it in all our victories this year."

Evans acknowledged that, as a class, they were working through both the mental and physical demands. These are their jobs now, and he said he believed the rookie class proved something Sunday.

"I just think it goes to show that we were prepared," he said. "Obviously there's a lot of the next step from college to the pros is that mental load when it comes to knowing the playbook and also this is the physical load of being able to play against solid players every single week and you know our team is kind of dealing with some injuries, so I guess we kind of step up and you know are ready for that and I think it just goes down in preparation."

Of course, there are only so many things you can prepare for when a game is moving as fast as that one was.

And for Horn, there wasn't a lot of context.

The sixth-round receiver, the final player the Panthers drafted this year, hadn't even been active for a game until Sunday, and wouldn't have been if not for the dislocated elbow that landed David Moore on injured reserve last week. But they built a package of plays for him to take advantage of his speed, an end-around here, a jet sweep motion there. But then the Panthers found themselves in a spot that wasn't about trickery. It was about man coverage, and going and getting it.

Trailing 24-20 with the clock ticking, the Panthers were faced with a fourth-and-5 from the Dolphins' 33-yard line.

So naturally, Young looked to a guy playing his first NFL game, who had a 4-yard catch and a couple of runs for 10 yards prior to that.

"There was a defender there," Canales said. "He tried to make a play, and Jimmy got up there and snatched it away from him."

Of course he did.

"Oh, it was a crucial catch, it was fourth down and I just had to make the play," Horn said. "That's all, that's how it was. I just had to make the play.

"It was very big, you know, dealing with all the injuries and stuff going on. I just had to fill in the role so it won't be no drop off. You're only as strong as your weakest link."

It was a very understated response from a guy put in a position of a lifetime, a spot he had never been in. At one point in his postgame interview, he was asked if he imagined the ball might come his way, and he simply replied: "Mmmm-hmmm."

"I kind of had a slight clue it might be coming to me," Horn elaborated. "But the concept that I had, I just had to win, you know, so that's what I went and did. . . .

"The way the defender was on me, in my head, I'm like I got to win, regardless. It's fourth down, that's the money down. You got to get it."

Etienne also played a big part in that final drive. After Rico Dowdle popped a 16-yard run on the first play of that series, he came out with a cramp, and Etienne stepped in. He gained 5 on his first carry, and later in the drive (after Horn bought them four more downs), his 12-yard run put them in position for Evans' game-winner.

By the way, that first-round receiver they drafted played a role too, as McMillan had a team-high six catches for 73 yards. He has 24 catches for 351 yards on the season. So while he's still waiting for his first touchdown, he's on pace for nearly 1,200 yards (1,193 to be precise), which would shatter the franchise's rookie record of 1,008 set by Kelvin Benjamin in 2014.

All told, it was an impressive day for a group of players who came here together in April and had to earn that trust quickly.

And according to their quarterback, that belief came from a very specific place — the practice field.

"Yeah, from the work they put in, from OTAs and training camp until now, you just see the work that they put in, you see the mindset that they have, those are guys that want to win," Young said. "They do all the little things right, and at the quarterback position, when you see that, it instills a ton of belief.

"So, those guys stepping up in big situations, not a surprise to me at all. Those are the type of guys, they are guys able to overcome it."