Retirement rumors followed Adam Thielen in 2025, and the veteran wide receiver will indeed step away from the game. The 13-year vet announced his retirement Wednesday following a late-season Steelers cameo.
Suiting up with Pittsburgh after a waiver claim, Thielen was with three teams in 2025. The Panthers traded Thielen to the Vikings in August, giving the accomplished pass catcher a chance to return home to a team attempting to follow up its 14-3 campaign with another playoff berth. As that fizzled, Thielen wound up on a postseason-bound club after the Steelers claimed his contract in December.
Once Minnesota moved on, it became known Thielen would retire after the season. He played an auxiliary role in the Steelers’ loss to the Texans on Monday night, catching two passes for 25 yards. Thielen also posted a 1,000-yard season as a Panther in 2023. But he will be best remembered for his contributions in his home state.
Playing 11 seasons with the Vikings, Thielen ranks in the top five in receptions, yardage and touchdown catches with the franchise. His 55 TD grabs as a Viking trail only Cris Carter and Randy Moss in team history. For his career, Thielen caught 64 touchdown passes, adding nine with Carolina. No additional scores came with Pittsburgh, but the former UDFA did carve out a role as Aaron Rodgers searched for tertiary targets alongside D.K. Metcalf.
Starring at Division II Minnesota State, Thielen became one of the most unlikely wide receiver success stories by catching on with the Vikings after a rookie minicamp tryout. Following a 2013 redshirt year of sorts, Thielen became a key player during the Mike Zimmer seasons. After finishing with fewer than 150 receiving yards in 2014 and ’15, Thielen erupted for 967 during Sam Bradford‘s 2016 Minnesota season and sustained that momentum after that year. Thielen eclipsed 1,200 yards in 2017 and ’18, topping out with a career-high 1,373 in Kirk Cousins‘ Vikes debut, and saw his first stint with the franchise last through the 2022 season.
The Vikings gave Thielen two extensions during his initial Twin Cities tenure. Minnesota re-upped Thielen on a four-year, $19.25MM extension in 2017 — after the team had applied a second-round RFA tender. That proved to be incredibly team-friendly, and the Vikings returned to the table to give their then-Stefon Diggs complement a four-year, $64.8MM deal in 2019. The Vikings had both Thielen and Diggs on big-ticket deals in 2019, but they traded the mercurial standout to the Bills in March 2020. Minnesota then added Justin Jefferson as its lead option, but Thielen remained an essential piece in the Cousins-piloted offense.
Thielen combined for 24 TD receptions over Jefferson’s first two seasons, helping Cousins to big numbers (as the QB signed two Vikes extensions). After Kevin O’Connell‘s first season produced a 13-win showing, the Vikings released Thielen upon being unable to agree on a reworked contract. A nice market formed for the street free agent, and the Panthers ponied up $25MM over three years to give their to-be-determined No. 1 overall pick (eventually Bryce Young) a veteran to target. While Carolina missed on some investments during Scott Fitterer‘s final year as GM, Thielen totaled 1,014 receiving yards to lead the woeful 2023 Panthers edition by a wide margin.
Rebuffing trade interest in Thielen in 2024, the Panthers reworked his contract this past year but eventually relented on a trade. They sent Thielen back to Minnesota in a deal that brought a 2027 fourth-round pick and a 2026 fifth to Carolina. Thielen being active for more than 10 games in 2025 triggered a condition on the Vikings’ side of the trade; that bumped the 2026 pick Minnesota received to a sixth-rounder. The Vikes also collected a 2027 seventh in the late-summer swap.
Thielen’s second Vikings stint did not offer much of consequence, as Minnesota fell out of contention during a rocky J.J. McCarthy debut season. Thielen surpassed his Minnesota 2.0 output (eight receptions) by catching 11 passes in just five Steelers regular-season games.
Two Pro Bowls, over 700 receptions, 64 touchdowns, and he lasted to be oldest receiver in the league, not to mention amassing a lot of money. Pretty incredible for an undrafted player.
and beloved by all teammates. says a lot about the kind of guy he is.
wondering who the NFL’s next Adam Thielen will be
Can’t peg anyone to be the next undrafted receiver to be good for a decade, but right now I’d say Jalen Coker is looking very promising as far as young undrafted wideouts.
Was thinking TeSlaa but like Cooper Kupp, a third round pick
Are you just naming white receivers? TeSlaa is nothing like Thielen.
Was thinking of lower draft picks or free agents, like former Patriot, Chris Hogan. Not that it matters what color they are.
They spent three third round picks on TeSlaa last year and you’ve now mentioned three white receivers other than Thielen, so you can understand my confusion.
Drew Pearson was one of the best undrafted receivers ever … he had been a QB. He isnt white though … if that makes you feel better?
I apologize for thinking you were focusing on white guys and not late round picks when you brought up two white guys who were early round picks, There, does that make you feel better?
Yes, it does … Jakobi Myers was undrafted. Kendrick Bourne is still playing as well.
OK. Both great examples. Would have made more sense to mention them. Rashid Shaheed was also undrafted and is putting together a nice career. And like I said, I’m keeping an eye on Coker, who looks like a good starting receiver if he can stay healthy. Looked great on Saturday.
No problem, was surprised with some of them, like Lazard. I had forgotten that Antonio Gates went undrafted.
Yeah, because he played basketball and not football in college. Wild success story. Similar to Jason Peters going undrafted as a tight end and becoming an elite offensive tackle.
I am a fan of Raheem Mostert, who the Chiefs should get … undrafted as well.
Knowing the NFL these days, I won’t be surprised he ‘comes out of retirement’ in a year or so…
For a while he and Tyler Lockett were both NFL all underrated. I loved watching those Kirk cousins teams with Diggs and Adam. He was so good at getting to right spot at the right time time. Had an awesome feel for leverage from the slot and was especially good on 3rd down. Best of luck in retirement Adam!
A lot of money made and a lot of great plays made. Hell of a career. He won in life
There is life after football.
Of course
A Viking the fans could be proud of……….Be nice if Addison could pull his head out of his arse and be more like Adam.
It’s always great seeing a UDFA succeed because it inspires other guys to keep battling when the odds are stacked against them. Wishing Adam the best in the next chapter of his career.
Wes Welker and Rod Smith were great, undrafted receivers.
All of those accomplishments,
AND
He can still walk without a limp !!
Good luck Adam!
The NFL just lost another first class player! Best of luck to him !