Why an Adam Thielen Reunion Isn’t Likely
There’s been talk lately of Vikings and Minnesota Sports legend WR Adam Thielen making a return to the great white north in light of the Vikings early-season struggles to field a solid corps of wideouts.
Jordan Addison will be gone for the first three contests of the year, Rondale Moore will miss his second consecutive season due to another major leg injury, and last year’s WR3 Jalen Nailor injured his hand during Thursday’s practice. This injury kept him on the sideline for the Vikings’ Week 2 preseason matchup against the New England Patriots, and his status going forward is currently in the air.
If Jalen Nailor isn’t ready to roll on the season premiere edition of Monday Night Football at Soldier Field against the smelly Chicago Bears, then we are in the current danger of this being the Vikings starting wide receiver corps at kickoff:
- Justin Jefferson
- Tai Felton
- Lucky Jackson
The Vikings would obviously make a move if this were truly going to be the case, but I didn’t even bring up the fact that Justin Jefferson is also dealing with an injury himself, being shutdown from practices and preseason games due to another hamstring tweak. A hamstring injury also kept the superstar out for seven games in 2023.
Could that move be for Jefferson’s former partner-in-crime and Minnesota Sports icon Adam Thielen? From the Vikings perspective, it would make sense. Theoretically, Thielen wouldn’t seem to cost the Vikings that much to acquire via trade with his current employer, the Carolina Panthers. The issue comes from when you put yourself in the Panthers’ shoes (or paws): why would they want to trade him?
Not only did they recently give him a pay raise for the year of 2025, boosting his cap hit up to $10.1 million for his services this year, but the Panthers’ receiving corps itself is in need of a veteran in the room. Don’t get me wrong, I love the duo of Xavier Legette and Tet McMillian, as well as Hunter Renfrow coming off of the bench. However, the team is still in need of a vet like Adam Thielen to lead the room and help develop their young duo of the aforementioned Legette and McMillian for the future.
Pending a good start by rookie WR McMillian in 2025, a trade from the Panthers to his boyhood-favorite Vikings would likely result in demotion for the aging receiver. Thielen would immediately be the WR2 for the first three weeks of season as Jordan Addison does his time, but after that, he’s down to WR3.
Not to mention, Thielen would be on an offense of other big-time playmakers other than Jefferson and Addison that would require touches, like T.J. Hockenson, Aaron Jones, and Jordan Mason. It’s also pretty obvious that Kevin O’Connell wants to force an injection of life into the running game of this offense, meanings targets to go around to pass catchers could diminish.
Targets aren’t something that Thielen doesn’t have to worry a ton about in Carolina, seeing as he will more than likely be a top two WR in the offense for the most of the 2025 season, as his fellow playmakers behind Legette and McMillan aren’t really much to write home about. No disrespect to Tommy Tremble, Chuba Hubbard, or Rico Dowdle.
Though it may make a ton of sense to us as wearers of purple-colored shades, it doesn’t make a ton of sense for Adam Thielen to come home past the surface level observation that the Vikings are gonna need help a wide receiver for a couple of weeks.
Not to worry, because I’m sure Adam will be around Vikings land plenty when his playing days are over and he’s given keys to the TCO Performance Center to come and go as he pleases.
