Adam Thielen's Restructured Deal is the Latest Example of the Vikings 'Running it Back'

Kwesi Adofo-Mensah and the Vikings are retaining their veteran stars in order to go for it in 2022.

If it wasn't already clear from the Vikings' decision to extend Kirk Cousins an extra year, there's no rebuilding happening in Minnesota this offseason.

Since then, GM Kwesi Adofo-Mensah and company have continued to retain veteran stars in an effort to "run it back" and theoretically contend for a playoff run this season. They restructured Harrison Smith's contract on Friday, freeing up $6 million in cap space. One day later, they did the same with Adam Thielen in another cap-saving move.

.@athielen19 has restructured his contract and is here to stay in Minnesota! Time to hit the ground running 😤@vikings | #TeamIFA pic.twitter.com/QfQC87Yb8t

— Team IFA (@TeamIFA) March 18, 2022

The exact cap savings of Thielen's restructure haven't been reported, but it'll lower his 2022 cap number (with the addition of a void year at the end of his contract) and keep him in Minnesota for the near future.

Cousins will be 34 when the season starts. Smith will be 33. Thielen will be 32. They're three of the five oldest players on the Vikings' roster, along with specialists Andrew DePaola and Jordan Berry. The Vikings committing to all three players — and pushing money down the line in order to do so — makes it abundantly clear that they think they can win at a high level right away. They're also apparently going to pay Danielle Hunter's roster bonus to keep him in Minnesota.

It's an interesting approach. This is a Vikings team that has gone 15-18 with no playoff berths over the past two years, doesn't have a ton of cap space, and needs significant improvements to the defensive side of the roster.

It's also a Vikings team that is loaded in offensive talent, has some marquee defensive players, and lost a ton of close games in 2021. The view from the Vikings' new leadership is clearly that replacing almost the entire coaching staff is going to make a major difference. They must believe that with Kevin O'Connell running the show and not Mike Zimmer, this same core group of players can produce different results.

Meanwhile, the Vikings' other finalist for their GM job — the Bears' Ryan Poles — has torn things down in Chicago and begun rebuilding. It'll be fascinating to compare the two strategies and the eventual results over the next few seasons.

The Vikings still have more work to do to load up for this season. The Cousins/Smith/Thielen moves created some cap space, and converting Hunter's roster bonus to signing bonus would create more. If they can add a good interior OL (J.C. Tretter, perhaps?) and a couple defensive players in free agency, they'd be set up pretty well for a draft that is deep at cornerback and edge rusher.

Is this the right approach? Only time will tell. Pushing money into the future and running it back with a roster that has underwhelmed in recent years is a risky choice. There's an argument to be made that the Vikings would've been better suited by rebuilding and trying something new with the aim of creating a Super Bowl-caliber team. 

There's also the argument that keeping good players is a good thing. We'll see what else the Vikings can get done this offseason and whether or not a new coaching staff and some roster tweaks can lead to more success on the field.

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