Reaction: Vikings acquire Adam Thielen
The Vikings also announced their practice squad
By Matthew Coller
After several days of negotiations between the Minnesota Vikings and Carolina Panthers, wide receiver Adam Thielen is returning to his home state. Here are the takeaways from Thielen coming back…
The Vikings kinda traded Sam Howell for Thielen
Here’s the terms of the deal: The Panthers send Thielen, a conditional seventh-rounder in 2026 and a fifth-round pick in 2027 for the Vikings’ 2026 fifth-round pick and a fourth-round pick in 2027.
Now if you have your Rich Hill Draft Chart handy, you will find that the estimated value adds up to somewhere in the ballpark of a net fourth-round pick. That may end up being true but it depends on where the Vikings and Panthers end up picking. For all intents and purposes, the Vikings end up getting Thielen for the same price as Sam Howell and a move down the draft board on Day 3 in 2027.
Of course, there will always be debates about who won the trade. In this case, it doesn’t really matter.
The Vikings landed a wide receiver who they can plug into the starting lineup after being acquired less than two weeks before the start of the season and the Panthers got good value for a 35-year-old receiver who might have ended up getting pushed down the depth chart as the season went along. The Panthers have three younger wide receivers that they want to be able to evaluate as long-term weapons alongside Bryce Young, whereas the Vikings have a dire need at receiver due to Jordan Addison’s suspension, Jalen Nailor being banged up, Rondale Moore’s season-ending injury and the lack of young depth receivers stepping up to the challenge.
If Thielen works out for the Vikings, nobody will care whether they gave up slightly more than we would have expected.
How good is Thielen now?
The positive side of Thielen’s recent performances in Carolina is that his hands have been every bit as reliable as they once were in Minnesota.
He had just six drops on 199 targets over the last two years. That number is helped by the Carolina underneath passing game, particularly in 2023 when Thielen only had an 8.0 average depth of target, but last year he did catch more passes downfield. Per PFF, 29 of Thielen’s 61 total targets traveled more than 10 yards through the air and he caught 18 of those and five touchdowns. Thielen has also made 13 contested catches on 22 chances over the last two years. In total he caught over 75% of his passes as a Panther.
In 2023, the struggling Young still had a 103.0 QB rating when targeting Thielen. In his breakout(ish) season, Carolina’s former No. 1 overall pick and veteran Andy Dalton totaled a 108.7 rating when targeting the aging receiver. Young over his first two seasons had a 77.3 rating — nowhere close to when he was throwing to Thielen.
Those numbers all bode well for McCarthy. As we saw once upon a time with Case Keenum, quarterbacks do not have to be flawlessly accurate when tossing the pigskin in Thielen’s direction. McCarthy has struggled at times during training camp with pinpoint accuracy at times but Thielen is still capable of making bad passes into completions.
How does Thielen fit?
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