EAGAN, Minn. — The Minnesota Vikings waived receiver Adam Thielen on Monday, in the future after he was a wholesome scratch within the group’s 26-0 loss to the Seattle Seahawks.
The choice ends Thielen’s second and remaining stint with the Vikings, who’re his hometown group and for whom he ranks No. 3 in profession landing catches (55), fourth in receptions (542) and fifth in receiving yards (6,751). He stated in a press release posted on social media that he way back determined that 2025 could be his remaining season and that he hoped to discover a new dwelling to “go compete elsewhere for the previous few weeks of my profession.”
#Skol https://t.co/PmpGmts9lr pic.twitter.com/AAZl4B0q6j
— Adam Thielen (@athielen19) December 1, 2025
“As a Minnesota native, placing on this uniform over time and representing this group each on and off the sector has all the time meant that rather more to me. This group is in my bones. It is in my coronary heart and it is a part of my DNA. I’ll ALWAYS be a Minnesota Viking,” Thielen, 35, wrote in his assertion.
In line with Vikings basic supervisor Kwesi Adofo-Mensah, Thielen’s agent requested the Vikings to launch him final week.
The group had acquired Thielen on Aug. 27, sending the Carolina Panthers a 2026 fifth-round draft choose and a 2027 fourth-round choose. The Vikings obtained Thielen, a conditional 2026 seventh-round choose and a 2027 fifth-round choose in return.
The deal supplied decidedly short-term worth. In essence, it gave the Vikings skilled depth firstly of the season whereas starter Jordan Addison served a three-game suspension. Thielen was extremely motivated to return to Minnesota and, as a part of the commerce negotiations, agreed to take a $2 million pay minimize for this season, decreasing his compensation from roughly $7 million to $5 million.
Since Addison returned in Week 5, nonetheless, Thielen had performed solely a handful of snaps per recreation. The Vikings’ high three receivers — Justin Jefferson, Jalen Nailor and Addison — have all remained wholesome. In his remaining recreation with the group, in Week 12 on the Inexperienced Bay Packers, Thielen performed solely three snaps.
“We have had fairly exceptional well being in that receiving room this yr,” coach Kevin O’Connell stated. “We have been looking for methods to get him tagged in there on some performs right here and there and simply we’ve not had a variety of performs as of late.”
In 11 video games this season, Thielen caught eight passes for 69 yards. As a part of his assertion, Thielen wrote that this “is definitely not how any of us imagined it might go.”
Stated Adofo-Mensah: “Adam is among the all-time nice Vikings, and we want him and his household continued success.”
Thielen had a 1,000-yard season as lately as 2023, when he had 1,014 yards on 103 receptions for the Panthers. He has 693 catches for 8,380 yards and 64 touchdowns in 12 seasons.
Born in Detroit Lakes, Minnesota, Thielen performed collegiately at Minnesota State College, Mankato, and spent the primary 9 seasons of his skilled profession with the Vikings. The group launched him after the 2022 season amid Jefferson’s emergence as an All-Professional receiver and forward of the choice to make Addison a first-round draft choose in 2023.
Thielen’s 542 receptions with the Vikings is greater than any participant in group historical past apart from Cris Carter, Randy Moss and Jefferson. Carter and Moss are members of the Professional Soccer Corridor of Fame.
