One of the best stories in the NFL, Adam Thielen’s utopian run with his hometown Minnesota Vikings ended this morning when the team released him. At 32, Thielen has proven he still has some air left in his tank in 2022, scoring 70 hits from 716 yards and six touchdowns. Based on reportVikings will save $6.41 million in cap space by cutting Thielen and although both sides have considered restructuring deal to keep him in Gopher State – where Thielen was born and went to college – the WR allegedly wanted a chance to compete in the Super Bowl in an offense that would use him more.
Thielen is the second Vikings star to be released this week, after Eric Kendricks was cut second. Thielen will test the free agent unlimited for the first time in career. He has third-most tackles (534) and touches (55) – behind Cris Carter and Randy Moss – and fourth-most received (6,682) in team history.
bAfter entering the season at the age of 33, will Thielen still provide value to a team looking to compete for the Super Bowl? And if not, how bad would it be to leave a team with Thielen active as their WR2 if Thielen really wants to stay relevant?
Thielen is clearly not the recipient he used to be. Despite playing more games last season than in any other, Thielen couldn’t beat his 2021 season in yards, touchdowns or touches. So if Thielen really wants to play for a team that will use him more than the Vikings, which team will go after the soon-to-be 33-year-old whose numbers are rapidly declining? Why anyone?
Some people may consider Thielen’s advanced metrics such as average split, and optimistic about Thielen’s production capabilities. In 2022, Thielen averaged Distance 1.77 yards each reception, it was the best mark of his career. That’s still not a huge gap, though, ranking outside the top 45 in the NFL. ONEAnd to make matters worse, Thielen’s dispute capture rate continues to drop. It has dropped from 48% in 2020, to 40.7% in 2021, then to just 22.2% in 2022. If a receiver can’t get rid of his man, he needs to be able to. ability to capture traffic, but Thielen can no longer provide that skill set.
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What he still brings to the table
Thielen still has some value though. First, he’s very good at finding holes in coverage. When an individual player is assigned Thielen, expansion may struggle to get out. bbut give Thielen an area to stand, and he’ll find the ball much better. He averaged nearly a full yard of distance with more area than the man’s coverage in 2022 — 1.43 yards from people versus 2.33 yards from areas). Basically, any offense that tries to give a Traditional passing attacks (regardless of fast screens, half-court reading, etc.) can use Thielen in the right circumstances.
However, that was not what Thielen wanted. He wants to be used more than the Vikings are using him, and I’m not sure that’s on the table anymore. The wide receiver position has become too deep in today’s NFL, and with fouls becoming much shorter and dependent on yards after catching, the plan to open the receiver and remove the defense, Thielen doesn’t really fit for more offenses anymore. Despite that, I’m sure some teams will go after the Double Professional pitcher.
Thielen might be best served to join a group like the Kansas City Chiefs, although I’m not sure if they’d be willing to do the same. They are said to be very interested in renewed contract with JuJu Smith-Schuster, who operates with the same skills as Thielen, but does it slightly better – this is to be expected at the age of Smith-Schuster. Now, that’s not to say the Chiefs don’t want one more threat to Mahomes, but with rumors swirling around Mecole Hardman’s future in KC, chances are the Chiefs will look to fill the role. the game that Hardman left with someone like him. After all, they just won the Super Bowl. If they lose key contributors, it’s in their best interest to keep their team as close together as possible. Hardman is a very different recipient than Thielen.
Does he have anything left? And who will take the chance?
Honestly, the market for a veteran receiver with low agility is pretty slim. Shock, I know! Other teams that may be interested include the Denver Broncos such as commercial rumors involving the receiver Jerry Jeudy and Courtland Sutton heating up. The New Orleans Saints have a very inexperienced reception team and Jarvis Landry is a free agent. As long as Michael Thomas is sidelined with a bruised toenail or any new injury that sidelined him, Thielen could immediately slip into team No 2 behind Chris Olave with the new midfielder. Derek Carr. The Arizona Cardinals Reported Shopping DeAndre Hopkinsand while the team has several receivers built for deep shots and YACs, new head coach Jonathan Gannon may be interested in adding a smart vet with a different skill set or building a different kind of attack from what Kliff Kingsbury had built. That’s not a sure thing though. Also, if Adam Thielen also wants to contest the championship, then Saints and Cardinals don’t fit the bill.
This is a real “have your cake and eat it too” situation for Thielen. I really doubt that he will get everything he wants. That said, Thielen can still be a valuable asset to some teams. He probably won’t get the right to use or the amount he wants.
