Adam Thielen Trade Included a Hidden Bonus for Vikings
Adam Thielen drove the car.
The Vikings’ trade for Adam Thielen last week came with a hidden bonus, and the surprising detail sheds new light on how the agreement came together.
That’s the word from Carolina Panthers general manager Dan Morgan regarding his team’s trade of Thielen to the Minnesota Vikings last week.
Not only did Minnesota welcome back Thielen for a grand reunion, a hidden bonus has emerged: Thielen seemingly orchestrated the swap.
Adam Thielen Is Back, and He Wanted It That Way.
New details, thanks to Dan Morgan, are available about the Thielen exchange.
Adam Thielen Drove the Trade to MIN
Morgan was not bashful on The Kyle Bailey Show about revealing Thielen’s role in last week’s agreement.
He told Bailey, “We have a young group of guys that we’re really excited about here, and it’s kind of hard. And I sat Adam Thielen down in my office, and he really wants to go there to Minnesota, and he’s pretty adamant that this is what I want. I didn’t really want to stand in his way. It was something that he was really convicted about. He wanted to go and finish his career there.”
“Obviously, he’s from there. He has a house there. He has young kids. There’s a human side to it. But at the same time, in my mind, I knew that I had to do what was best for the Carolina Panthers. So I wasn’t going to give him away. A few offers that they did send over that would have been a giveaway, but I was back and forth their GM up there.”
Morgan’s description of Thielen’s request sounded like textbook Thielen.
Morgan continued, “Myself, Brandt Tilis, and Eric Eager, sitting in the room going through all these trade scenarios that we felt would like work for us and where we would be at the advantage. And at the end of the day, we sent Thielen there, we agreed to it. You know, that’s kind of hard to, you know, Adam being so adamant to go there.”
“It was just kind of hard for me to stand in this way and be here and maybe be disgruntled. They need to be fine. But we would have to find that out.”
It’s all the evidence one needs to connect the dots. Thielen wanted to return home.
A Tidbit Fit for a Reunion
And Morgan’s comments make sense. They’re not off the wall.
Thielen will likely retire next offseason or the one after, and why not embark on a retirement tour in Minnesota? After all, Thielen clawed his way up the Vikings’ depth chart 12 years ago, starting his journey as an undrafted free-agent special teams dreamer, later reaching two Pro Bowls in 2017 and 2018 with the team he grew up loving.
The Thielen reunion didn’t need any more storylines, but Morgan provided the cake-topper.
The Compensation
Of course, Carolina got what it wanted from the deal.
Minnesota shipped a 4th-Round pick and a 5th-Rounder to Carolina for Thielen, a 5th-Round pick, and a 7th-Rounder that can transform into a 6th-Round pick if Thielen succumbs to an injury this season.
A 4th-Rounder heading to Carolina is a steep central point of an exchange for an old wide receiver. There’s just no other way to rationalize it. Minnesota overpaid, but nobody really cares.
Thielen’s Role
What now for Thielen? Well, he’ll slide back into his old job: WR2 for the purple team. Jordan Addison won’t play in the regular season’s first three games. He is suspended out of the gate in 2025 and cannot return until Week 4.
Thielen played productively in Carolina, even notching 103 receptions and 1,014 yards during the 2023 campaign. Minnesota is not onboarding the ghost of Thielen; the man still very much has the juice for a WR2-WR3 assignment in Kevin O’Connell’s offense.
When Addison returns in Ireland, Thielen will reasonably fill a WR3 role, and in fact, become the Vikings’ best WR3 on paper in years.
More on the Thielen Trade
SI.com‘s Blake Silverman noted on the Thielen reunion last weekend: “The move marks a return for the beloved receiver after nearly a decade with the Vikings to begin his career.”
“His family, and his daughter in particular, was incredibly pumped up when they learned of the move, as shown in a video shared by Thielen’s wife Caitlin on her Instagram story. The deal came at somewhat of a sacrifice for Thielen, as he took a $2 million pay cut and removed $4 million in incentives to finalize the deal which sent him back to Minnesota according to a new report from NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero.”
It’s worth noting that Thielen’s return was greeted with universal approval among purple fans.
Silverman added, “He signed a three-year, $25 million deal to join the Panthers in 2023 and renegotiated over the offseason to play under a new one-year, $8.5 million contract. CBS’ Jonathan Jones initially reported Thielen’s deal would be reworked as a part of the trade, which now nets out to roughly $5 million this season according to ESPN’s Kevin Seifert.”
“The Detroit Lakes, Minn., native wanted to return back home where he spent his college career at nearby Minnesota State University and the first nine seasons of his NFL career. He caught 55 touchdowns as a Viking, which is third in franchise history behind only Cris Carter and Randy Moss.”
The man wanted to come home. Quite the bonus.
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