Adam Thielen is a starting receiver for the Minnesota Vikings. Born in Minnesota, Thielen would opt to stay local at a D2 university, Minnesota State, after major college teams weren’t interested in offering him a scholarship despite his All-Conference and All-State honors in his senior year.
Adam Thielen wasn’t drafted in the 2013 NFL Draft but, once again, remained in Minnesota, this time with the Vikings. Thielen’s entire rookie season was spent on the practice squad, but he made plays on special teams during the preseason. Thielen was a special team stalwart the following two seasons, while being an irregular contributor on offense. Because his special team ability kept him on the roster, an opportunity to contribute full-time on offense appeared during the 2016 season. In his fourth season, starting receiver Stefon Diggs was sidelined by a groin injury. Thielen would seize the opportunity in Week 5 against the Texans and finished with seven receptions for 127 yards and a touchdown. Thielen would have another 100-yard game later in the season and a 200-yard game against the rival Green Bay Packers in Week 16.
The following 2017 and 2018 seasons would be Thielen’s two best seasons. He played and started all 32 games and would surpass 1200 receiving yards in both seasons en route to making the Pro Bowl in both seasons. In 2017 he was named to the All-Pro second team. In 2017, Thielen averaged 15.0 (No. 10) fantasy points per game. He finished top-12 in numerous opportunity and productivity metrics, including targets (143), Target Share (27.4-percent), Air Yards (1572), receptions (91), and receiving yards (1276). In 2018, Thielen started the season with eight consecutive 100-yard receiving games. To this day, that’s the NFL record for most consecutive 100-yard games to begin a season and most consecutive 100-yard games. Unfortunately for Thielen, his second-half of that season was nowhere near as dominant. He finished the second-half with only one game with more than 80 receiving yards.
After back-to-back Pro Bowl seasons, the Vikings rewarded Thielen with a four-year, $64 million contract. At that time, that was the eighth-largest average annual valued contract among wide receivers. Thielen had been an ironman in the NFL, having not missed a game in five seasons. That streak was broken in 2019 thanks to a hamstring injury that cost him five games. His season averages of 3.0 receptions and 41.8 yards were quite the decline from his Pro Bowl seasons. The following season saw two big changes in the Vikings receiver room: the departure of Diggs to Buffalo and the drafting of Justin Jefferson in the first round of the 2020 NFL Draft. No longer dominating the targets and yards like he did in 2017 and 2018, Thielen finished with 16.9 (No. 11) fantasy points per game thanks largely to his 14 (No. 3) touchdowns.
2021 saw more of the same from Thielen’s 2020 season. Receptions and yards were down, but touchdowns were high. Through 11 games, Thielen had 10 (No. 9) touchdowns. Then he suffered a high-ankle sprain in Week 13 that essentially cost him the remainder of the season. Thanks to his touchdowns, Thielen finished with 15.4 (No. 13) fantasy points per game. His receiver teammate, Justin Jefferson, has asserted himself as one of the premiere talents at the position since entering the league pushing Thielen to a high-end second wide receiver role.
