Adam Thielen returned to the Minnesota Vikings and then left via the waiver wire, and it looks all too familiar.
Thielen rejoined the Vikings via a trade before a season with big expectations after a 14-3 season in 2024. It didn’t work out as the Vikings stumbled to 4-8, and Thielen wanted out in his final season to join a contender.
That greatly resembles what happened with another Vikings receiver great in Randy Moss, as the Star Tribune’s Michael Rand points out. Moss rejoined the Vikings in 2010 through trade with the New England Patriots, amid big expectations, but that likewise failed, and the Vikings released Moss.
“Listen. This is not 2010 for the Vikings because, well, nothing might ever top 2010 for the Vikings,” Rand wrote. “The roof metaphorically caved in that year on the Vikings’ all-in plan to run it back for another year with Brett Favre. And then it literally caved in, too.”
“Along the way, though, there was a brief but desperate reunion with wide receiver Randy Moss. The Vikings were struggling and made an early October trade to inject life into their offense,” Rand continued.
“A month later, the Vikings cut Moss after he berated a caterer (among other things). Head coach Brad Childress, who wouldn’t survive the rest of the season as coach, called Moss a ‘programmatic non-fit,’” Rand concluded.
Adam Thielen and Randy Moss Didn’t Produce in Returns
GettyRandy Moss was a Vikings legend, but his second stint didn’t work as well as the first.
Moss’s numbers weren’t great in four games, with 13 receptions for 174 yards and two touchdowns. Thielen’s return looked even less amid eight catches for 69 yards in 11 games played.
That said, both returned to Minnesota with very different expectations. The Vikings looked for a No. 1 receiver-type spark in Moss, but this year’s Vikings just needed Thielen to be a solid No. 2 or No. 3 receiver for three games with Jordan Addison out for a three-game suspension.
An undrafted free agent, Thielen had a great career with the Vikings in his first nine seasons with the team, and he has 693 receptions for 8,380 yards and 64 touchdowns in his career. He earned two Pro Bowl appearances and two second-team All-Pro honors with the Vikings.
Moss had a Hall of Fame career, which began as the No. 21 pick in 1998 and a wildly dominant rookie season. He accumulated 982 receptions for 15,292 yards and 156 touchdowns amid four All-Pro honors and six Pro Bowls. He also played in two Super Bowls but lost in both.
Neither Trade Worked
As far as the trades go, the Vikings clearly missed out on more with Thielen. Minnesota gave up a 2011 third-round pick and a 2012 seventh-round pick for Moss in 2010. The Vikings gave up a 2026 fifth-round pick and a 2027 fourth-round pick to the Carolina Panthers for Thielen this year.
“In both cases, the receivers were brought in to patch holes that came from ideas that proved to be incorrect,” Rand wrote. “The Vikings almost certainly wouldn’t have traded for Thielen if they knew how the rest of this season would play out.”
“Same with the Moss trade, which only served to underscore the 2010 team’s shortcomings,” Rand added.
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