Adam Thielen returned to his home state Minnesota Vikings this season, and it went much differently than planned amid a 4-8 start to the season.
The Vikings released Thielen on Monday, so he can join a contending team for the rest of the season, which will be his final one. Thielen also didn’t play in the Vikings’ 26-0 loss to the Seattle Seahawks on Sunday as a healthy scratch, and Thielen had already approached the front office about wanting out in the past week.
“What I will say is just how much I appreciate Adam,” Vikings head coach Kevin O’Connell told reporters on Monday. “What he means to me, the organization. I think Adam Thielen’s a special person and a special player.”
“I just wish him nothing but the best over these final few weeks of the year. Sounds like that might be the final few weeks of his career, and we wanted to make sure, after some dialogue, that we accommodated that.”
Adam Thielen Returned to Fill Temporary Wide Receiver Need
Minnesota brought back Thielen after his time with the Carolina Panthers because of needs at wide receiver. Justin Jefferson and Jalen Nailor had an injuries in training camp, and Jordan Addison had a three-game suspension.
Thielen didn’t recapture his prior success in purple, however. He had just eight receptions for 69 yards for the season, and Thielen only had two receptions in the first three games with Addison out.
“If you look back on it, and I think it’s important to do that sometimes with things like this, when we acquired Adam, Justin had missed most of training camp with him hamstring, Speedy (Nailor) was dealing with an injury where we did not know if we would have him for the first two weeks of the season, and everybody knows we were gonna be without Jordan for the first three weeks,” O’Connell said.
“And then beyond that, it was a matter of we felt like we had four capable starters and two young guys who we really like a lot in Tai (Felton) and Myles (Price) who were gonna be heavily involved in the kicking game,” O’Connell added.
A Costly Trade
Minnesota traded for Thielen, which now makes the move look costly for the Vikings. Carolina received a 2026 fifth-round draft pick and an 2027 fourth-round pick in the trade, and the Vikings obtained a conditional seventh-round pick for 2026.
“That was part of the dialogue at the time,” O’Connell said of the circumstances around the Thielen trade. “Obviously it would be a major thing for the first three weeks, and then we haven’t had a particular season where all three of your starters, once all available, have been all available.”
“I think it got to the point where, just the reflection of this possibly being the final sequence of weeks in his career, I think he thought it was time to talk about it,” O’Connell added.
An undrafted free agent out of Division II Minnesota State-Mankato, Thielen became a fan favorite in his career with the Vikings between 2013 and 2022. He made two Pro Bowls and received All-Pro second team honors once.
“Adam and I talk a lot, there was zero negativity to the conversations. It was more so the competitor in him, and he wants to finish this thing off the right way,” O’Connell said. “Conversations were had with Kwesi and his staff and this was the outcome that came out of it. He’s one of those players that will always hold a spot in my heart, getting to be a part of that first team (in 2022) and such an impactful player in our organization.”
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