The Carolina Panthers sent Adam Thielen back to his home state Minnesota Vikings on Wednesday, swapping the 35-year-old receiver, a conditional 2026 seventh-round pick, and a 2027 fifth-round pick for a 2026 fifth-round pick and a 2027 fourth-round pick.
Panthers head coach Dave Canales lauded Thielen's achievements throughout his career, focusing on the last seven games of the 2024 season.
He sounded happy about the other Carolina receivers getting those targets instead. And it's not hard to take it that he shared the slightest of frustrations towards Thielen's lack of appearances during his last year in Charlotte.
"Adam makes plays. He consistently did that for his career, and certainly last year, at the end of the season, when he came back to us, he made plays. And so this is just an opportunity for guys to be there, and to be available for Bryce, whether it's on a critical third down or whether it's to win the game, you know, these are incredible opportunities for them," Caneles said.
Thielen spoke of Vikings quarterback J.J. McCarthy as a potential future "face of the league" when I spoke to him in June. He spoke more of Bryce Young's year-to-year improvement and mentioned him leaving his comfort zone.
He also kept saying "guys" and not "we" when referring to the Panthers receivers rallying around Young.
"When someone handles adversity the way that he did, and they come back and they change some things to benefit themselves and the team, you could feel the buy-in from guys. And just the trust that guys earned or that he earned from guys was really cool. So, guys are all in on Bryce, and they really trust him to just be that leader and the guy that's going to be kind of the face of our franchise for a long time," Thielen said.
In hindsight, the comments seem to be telling about what was coming. A long-discussed return to a franchise he played nine years for being in advanced stages at that point isn't an impossibility by any stretch.
Speaking of telling, it's clear Canales is happy about where the receiver room is without him.
In the end, this trade can be a win-win for both sides. Because there was enough frustration to think Thielen in Carolina wasn't going to be a win-win for anyone.
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