Adam Thielen is lighting up the NFL in first season out of Minnesota
When Adam Thielen was released by the Vikings seven months ago, the common belief was the move made sense because Thielen was aging, showing signs of regression and cutting him would help Minnesota walk the salary cap tight rope.
The salary cap part was never in question, but Thielen, at age 33, is proving himself correct, having said immediately after last season ended that he has "a lot of ball left" and "I feel like I can play at a high level."
Now with the winless Carolina Panthers, Thielen is putting up big numbers. He's second in the NFL with 49 receptions, his 509 receiving yards ranks ninth and he's tied fourth with four touchdown catches. He's averaging 8.1 catches for 84.8 yards per game.
Thielen is on pace to finish the season with 138 catches, 1,442 yards and 11 touchdowns. Not bad for the guy from Division II Minnesota State-Mankato who hasn't eclipsed 1,000 yards in a season since 2018.
Since the AFL-NFL merger in 1970, only 30 players age 33 or older have posted 70 catches or more in a season. Only 28 of those players have been able to post a 1,000-yard season and only seven players have scored 10 or more touchdowns in a season.
Thielen has been rookie quarterback Bryce Young's go-to option. He's been targeted 59 times and hauled in 83% of those passes. And as always seemed to be the case during his days in Minnesota, most of his receptions – 33 of 49 – lead to first downs.
Thielen is averaging 9.8 targets per game, the most since Kirk Cousins threw his way 9.5 times per game in 2018 when he finished with 113 catches for 1,373 yards and nine touchdowns.
Injuries derailed Thielen's 2019 season and then Justin Jefferson arrived in 2020, rightfully stealing the spotlight and targets. Thielen was targeted 7.2 times per game in 2020, 7.3 per game in 2021 and 6.3 in 2022.
Thielen already has three games with 11 receptions this season and he's had at least seven catches in five of six games. Take away his two-catch dud in the opener and the Detroit Lakes native is basically averaging 10 catches for 100 yards per game. He had just one game with double-digit receptions in his last four seasons in Minnesota.
If you strip away the worries about his age and salary, it's a tale as old as time that remains true: Throw Thielen the ball and good things happen.
Title: Bring Me The Sports co-owner, editor Email: joe@bringmethenews.com Twitter: @JoeBMTN Education: Southwest Minnesota State University Location: Minneapolis, Minnesota Expertise: All things Minnesota sports Nelson has covered Minnesota sports for two decades, starting his media career in sports radio. He worked at small market Minnesota stations in Marshall and St. Cloud before joining one of the nation's highest-rated sports stations, KFAN-FM 100.3 in the Twin Cities. There, he was the producer of the top-rated mid-morning sports show with Minnesota Vikings announcer Paul Allen. His radio experience helped blossom a career as a sports writer, joining Minneapolis-based Bring Me The News in 2011. Nelson and Adam Uren became co-owners of Bring Me The News in 2018 and have since more than tripled the site's traffic and launched Bring Me The Sports in cooperation with the Sports Illustrated/FanNation umbrella. Nelson has covered the Super Bowl and numerous training camps, NFL combines, the MLB All-Star Game and Minnesota playoff games, in addition to the day-to-day happenings on and off the field of play. Nelson also has extensive knowledge of non-sports subjects, including news and weather. He works closely with Bring Me The News meteorologist Sven Sundgaard to produce a bevy of weather and climate information for Minnesota readers. Nelson helped launch and manage the Bring Me The News Radio Network, which provided more than 50 radio stations around Minnesota with daily news, sports and weather reports from 2011-17.