CHARLOTTE — It's possible that we've all taken Andy Dalton for granted.

Even the teammates who are around him every day may not have quite realized who they were out there with.

It's not just that Dalton has played well lately and helped the Panthers stabilize their offense, either. By virtue of being 36 years old and also being good at football for a very long time, the Panthers starting quarterback has numbers that put him among the all-time greats of the game.

In his 14th NFL season, Dalton has thrown for 39,050 yards and 251 touchdowns.

Those numbers are 26th, and tied for 24th all-time, respectively.

Not among active players. Not among guys in the last 20 years. Ever. Like, in all of the football ever played in exchange for money in the United States of America, Andy Dalton's numbers are some of the best.

"I did not know that," veteran wideout Adam Thielen said, with a genuine look of surprise on his face.

"I'd hope so. When you're old enough, you're going to climb up the rankings naturally, but you're doing it when you're old and doing it at a high level, you're for sure climbing up," center Austin Corbett said. "So it's obvious.

"That's a lot of high-level ball."

NFL All-time touchdown pass leaders

Sometimes, it's helpful to put these things in context.

Being tied for 24th on the all-time touchdowns list is the kind of number that you can lose sight of until you realize he's just three touchdowns away from being tied with Hall of Famer Dan Fouts, and he's only 22 touchdown passes and 1,501 yards away from Joe Montana. As in, JOE MONTANA.

In fact, Dalton's passing yards are more than 17 Hall of Fame quarterbacks, including guys such as Jim Kelly, Steve Young, Terry Bradshaw, and many more.

Of the 25 guys ahead of him on the yardage list, nine are already in the Hall of Fame (Peyton Manning, Brett Favre, Dan Marino, John Elway, Warren Moon, Fran Tarkenton, Fouts, Montana, and Johnny Unitas) and two more (Tom Brady and Drew Brees, 1-2 on both all-time lists) will be there as soon as they're eligible. Six are still active (Aaron Rodgers, Matt Stafford, Joe Flacco, Russell Wilson, Kirk Cousins, and Derek Carr). That leaves four guys who will be in future Hall of Fame discussions but are maybe not locks (Ben Roethlisberger, Philip Rivers, Matt Ryan, and Eli Manning), and four other all-time compilers (Carson Palmer, Drew Bledsoe, and Panthers legends Vinny Testaverde and Kerry Collins).

That's the company he keeps, even if people don't expect it.

Asked if there were certain guys he looked up to growing up in Texas, Dalton shrugged and said he was more of a college fan growing up since the Oilers had left Houston as he was growing up in suburban Katy, Tex. But sure, there were guys.

"I loved to watch Peyton Manning, just his control of the game, the whole no-huddle offense and all the stuff that he was doing," Dalton said when asked about role models. "I mean, being in Texas, Troy Aikman was one too, with the success that the Cowboys had and everything there. Brett Favre is another one that I like to watch; just that gunslinger mentality.

"So, there wasn't one guy that I was like, oh, I want to be like him someday. But I mean, there's guys that I definitely followed."

And a lot of guys who now follow him, at least statistically.

Dalton ain't ever catching Manning (539 touchdowns, 71,940 yards) or Favre (508 TDs, 71,838 yds) on the all-time lists. But he's already roared past Aikman, who retired after 12 seasons with a mere 165 touchdowns and 32,942 yards.

That's right, Andy Dalton has 86 more touchdown passes and 6,108 more passing yards than Troy Aikman.

NFL All-time passing yardage leaders

None of this is the kind of thing that you'd ordinarily think about, since Dalton has a generally approachable vibe that you don't associate with all-timers. At least, until you realize that Dalton has played, as Corbett said, "a lot of high-level ball."

He had seven straight seasons of at least 3,250 passing yards with the Bengals. He's had six seasons of at least 20 touchdowns.

And since jumping into the starting lineup two weeks ago here, he's thrown for 539 yards with five touchdowns.

"I mean, he's just played fantastic ball," Panthers head coach Dave Canales said simply when asked about Dalton. "We've asked him to hit the first open guy and he's done that well."

Thielen said that the perception of Dalton being out of line with his actual numbers is probably because of a few years he spent as a backup in Dallas and Chicago and here last season, but the accumulated accomplishments speak for themselves.

"When you get out of it for a couple of years or you're not in the starting position for a few years, this league is like on to the next, so it doesn't get talked about a lot," Thielen said. "But again, you see those things in practice, through OTAs, training camp the last two years, and then obviously when he's able to play, it doesn't shock you that those numbers are there, right?

"Because he proves day in and day out he's this type of quarterback, he can be a leader. And that experience shows up, day in and day out."

Dalton accepts these kinds of mentions with a grin — as if there's a joke about his age just around the corner, and he's being set up. And sometimes, that's the case. "You got anything else good?" he asked. Yes, you're also 17th all-time in passing first downs. "Cool," he replied.

But it's also a testament to more than just his longevity because hanging around forever doesn't help if you're not making plays.

And right now, Dalton's doing just that.

Tight end Tommy Tremble said he had nothing but respect for Dalton's game and has for years.

"It's funny because when I was a kid, I remember watching Andy on the Bengals," Tremble said. "When I was a young kid, I used to think, oh, he's got like orange hair, so that's why he's on the Bengals team. That means he's the quarterback. And I remember seeing him my entire life known as, like you see Tom Brady with the Patriots, you see Peyton Manning on the Colts before he got to Denver, like I always saw Andy as like, that's a franchise guy for that team."

Tremble was 10 when Dalton was drafted by the Bengals in 2011, so that perspective's perhaps understandable.

And now, his respect for the quarterback has only heightened with time and understanding of what he's actually seeing.

"Even when he got here last year, I thought it was awesome to be with a guy who I've seen as a kid growing up and be able to play with them," Tremble said. "And especially this year, seeing him still doing his thing, man, it's special to be around."

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