Adam Thielen figures he wouldn’t have been traded on Wednesday if not for Carolina Panthers quarterback Bryce Young. Not that Young wanted Thielen out of Carolina. But rather the former Alabama All-American’s connection with the wide receiver for the past two seasons made him a viable trade target at age 35.
On Wednesday, Carolina traded Thielen, a 2027 fifth-round draft pick and a 2026 conditional seventh-round pick for a 2006 fifth-round pick and a 2027 fourth-round pick from the Minnesota Vikings. Thielen spent his first nine seasons with the Vikings, catching 534 passes for 6,682 yards and 55 touchdowns and going to two Pro Bowls.
The Panthers signed Thielen as an NFL free agent on March 19, 2023, after Minnesota had released him. Carolina made Young the first pick in the 2023 NFL Draft 39 days later.
With the Vikings, Thielen will play with a first-year starter at quarterback again. The 10th pick in the 2024 NFL Draft, J.J. McCarthy missed last season because of an injury, but he’ll be at quarterback for Minnesota in 2025.
“I’m not going to get into necessarily comparing the two situations,” Thielen said when asked to do that on Thursday. “But I will say this about Bryce because he deserves the respect: He’s a great man, he’s a great leader, he’s a great quarterback, and you saw that at the end of last year. Just the stuff that he had to go through, the adversity his first two years in the league, you don’t wish that upon anybody. And so for him to kind of handle that, and then to be where he’s at right now, it just says a lot about his character and who he is and what kind of player he’s going to be in this league.
“So, so much respect for him because I’m probably not here today -- I guarantee I’m not here today -- without him, just him trusting me, him giving me opportunity and believing in me to be able to still continue to play this game that I love.”
In Young’s rookie season, Thielen had 103 receptions for 1,014 yards and four touchdowns for his first 1,000-yard performance in five seasons. He had 60 more receptions and 489 more receiving yards than any other Carolina player in 2023.
The Panthers posted a 2-15 record that season, with coach Frank Reich fired 11 games into it.
Last season, Thielen did not lead the Panthers in receptions, with his 48 one fewer than Xavier Legette had. But Thielen did pace the team with 615 receiving yards and five touchdown receptions.
Thielen did that even though he missed seven games in 2024. Young wasn’t the Carolina’s starting quarterback for five of the Panthers’ games.
Benched after the second contest, Young returned to the lineup in the second half of the season to re-establish his hold on the QB job in Carolina.
Wednesday’s trade marked a homecoming for Thielen. Not only did he play his first nine NFL seasons with the Vikings after catching on as an undrafted rookie, he’s a native of Detroit Lakes, Minnesota, who played collegiately at Minnesota State.
“I think that’s why it makes it so crazy,” Thielen said. “Because I just didn’t think that this was even a possibility. I thought the next time I would be talking to you guys is when I was signing a one-day contract and retiring.”
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Mark Inabinett is a sports reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on X at@AMarkG1.
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