It took five-plus years to make it, but Adam Thielen and Case Keenum, two undrafted and forgotten players, are living the American Dream. Interestingly, when you ignore scout-speak and just focus on the numbers, objective measurements indicate Thielen and Keenum were #GoodAtFootball all along based on the advanced stats, metrics, and analytics profiles.
At Minnesota State, Adam Thielen was utterly dominant. It was a rare case of a player getting hurt by his athletic gifts. Case Keenum was prolific in college. Keenum is the NCAA’s all-time passing yards leader with over 19,000 yards at Houston. But at 6-1, scouts dismissed Keenum despite great accuracy, touch, and ball velocity. There can only one Russell Wilson! Fortunately, Keenum uses his excellent agility to maneuver in the pocket while Thielen gets open over and over and over again.
Thielen is suddenly one the league’s best receivers. After a hyper-efficient 2016, he has been efficient once again this season, even in the face of huge volume. Thielen is the only NFL receiver with 5 or more receptions in each game this season.
Keenum looks like his belongs in a starting role. Check out the advanced completion percentage metrics. Keenum is effective in every facet of the game. He’s excellent on play fakes and completes close to 45-percent of his passes 20 or more yards downfield.
| Advanced Completion Percentage | Value | Rank |
| True Completion % | 71.4% | #4 |
| Play-action | 68.3% | #4 |
| Deep Ball | 40.7% | #8 |
| Red Zone | 63.5% | #10 |
| Under Pressure | 37.0% | #14 |
Time to get used to the Keenum to Thielen connection, sports fans.
