Adam Thielen is returning home. The Panthers have agreed on terms to send the Minnesota native back to the Vikings, with ESPN’s Adam Schefter reporting the deal is done.
Carolina will receive a 2026 fifth-round pick and a 2027 fourth-rounder. Minnesota adds Thielen, a conditional 2026 seventh-round pick and a 2027 fifth-rounder, according to Schefter, who adds talks between the NFC teams have been serious for a few days. The conditional seventh-rounder the Vikings received becomes a sixth if Thielen is not active for 10 games or not on the 53-man roster for 14, The Athletic’s Joe Person tweets.
The teams had been haggling over trade value this week, and ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler adds the Panthers initially asked for a lot in return for the established possession receiver. With terms agreed to, the Vikings are finalizing a revised contract, NFL.com’s Tom Pelissero adds.
Thielen rejoins a Vikings team hurting at wide receiver to open the season — to the point the team eyed trade help. Jordan Addison incurred a three-game suspension for a 2024 DUI arrest, while Rondale Moore suffered a season-ending knee injury for a second straight year. Jalen Nailor is also recovering from a hand injury, and Justin Jefferson missed a few weeks because of a hamstring injury sustained early in training camp.
Despite the Vikings cutting Thielen in 2023, veteran reporter Jordan Schultz indicates Kevin O’Connell advocated “strongly” to add a veteran to help. Thielen, 35, fits the bill and has scheme familiarity from his 2022 season in O’Connell’s offense. Prior to that, Thielen played nine seasons in Minnesota. The former rookie-camp tryout body is set to play a 13th NFL season, and he will be asked to help J.J. McCarthy transition to the pros. When addressing the trade, Panthers head coach Dave Canales noted (via ESPN’s David Newton) Thielen never specifically asked to be dealt back to Minnesota.
Nonetheless, Thielen becomes the third receiver the Panthers have traded since October. They dealt Jonathan Mingo to the Cowboys and ended the failed Diontae Johnson experiment before the 2024 deadline. Thielen, who accepted a revised contract this offseason, will be dealt from an offense that added another first-round wideout — Tetairoa McMillan — this year. McMillan leads the way for the Panthers at receiver now, headlining a group featuring Xavier Legette and UDFA talent Jalen Coker. This does strip a proven pass catcher from Bryce Young, but the Panthers have young talent to garner key reps this season.
After two productive seasons in Carolina, Thielen accepted a reworked contract this offseason. The Panthers had him on a one-year, $8.75MM deal ($1.5MM guaranteed). While the rework gave Thielen some guaranteed money for 2025 — the final year of his contract — it also left the door open for a trade. The Panthers will take on $5MM in dead money from moving Thielen, with the figure being split between the 2025 and ’26 seasons.
Thielen tacked on a third 1,000-yard season to his resume in Carolina, being a woeful offense’s top option in 2023. He added a 615-yard year in 2024, doing so despite missing seven games with a hamstring injury. The former Jefferson and Stefon Diggs sidekick ranks third in career Vikings receptions and receiving TDs, sitting fifth in career Minnesota yardage.
Thielen had pointed to 2025 potentially being his NFL finale, and it will now come in his home state. Thielen combined for 24 TD receptions in Jefferson’s first two years. After working with Kirk Cousins for five seasons, Thielen garnered experience with a younger QB in Young; that should help him ahead of McCarthy’s debut campaign.
Minnesota initially had Diggs complementing Thielen, who eclipsed 1,200 yards in 2017 and ’18. Thielen agreed to two Vikings extensions, the second of which a four-year, $64.8MM accord. The Vikes revised that deal in 2022 but cut the accomplished receiver in March 2023, after the sides could not agree on another adjustment.
Thielen then collected a three-year, $25MM deal from the Panthers. While Carolina missed on some 2023 additions, Thielen provided value. After trade rumors emerged at the 2024 deadline, the Panthers circled back to a deal now. The Vikings had added Addison in Round 1 weeks after cutting Thielen. It will be interesting to see that duo work together, with Nailor (414 yards last season) and third-round rookie Tai Felton rounding out what will be one of the NFL’s deepest WR groups once Addison is activated in Week 4.