Vikings Rumors: ‘Fresh start’ for Adam Thielen in 2023 would not be surprising

One of the most notable Minnesota Vikings rumors involves the lack of surprise there would apparently be if Adam Thielen played elsewhere in 2023.

It’s that time of year in which Minnesota Vikings rumors are all over the place, and one of the latest ones has to do with the team’s veteran wide receiver, Adam Thielen.

Thielen is coming off of his 10th season with the Vikings, and ever since the 2022 campaign ended for Minnesota, the 32-year-old receiver has been hinting at a possible exit from his hometown team this offseason.

Despite finishing second on the Vikings in targets in 2022, Thielen apparently wants to be somewhere that gives him the opportunity to show that he can still perform at a high level.

Vikings Rumors: Adam Thielen could be heading toward an unsurprising “fresh start”

ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler recently shared some of the things he heard while attending this year’s NFL Scouting Combine, and he had an interesting note about Thielen’s future in Minnesota.

Based on how Thielen has been responding to questions about his future with the Vikings this offseason, this info from Fowler shouldn’t come as too much of a surprise.

If Minnesota does actually choose to move on from the veteran receiver this year, it will be interesting to see how they do it.

An outright release will only save them around $6.4 million and leave them with more than $13.5 million in dead cap to account for in 2023. Trading Thielen would also result in a similar salary cap scenario for the Vikings.

Minnesota could give Thielen June 1 designation and clear more than $13.4 million in cap space. But the Vikings wouldn’t receive these cap savings until June 1, and they would also be left with more than $6.5 million in dead money on their salary cap in both 2023 and 2024.

There are a few things we know about this situation. We know that Minnesota absolutely does not want to keep Thielen’s cap hit for 2023 at its current number, which is slightly under $20 million. We also know that the veteran wide receiver is interested in potentially playing for another team next season.

If Thielen wants the Vikings to do him a favor by letting him out of his contract to sign with another team, then he’s going to have to help them out too.

With two years still remaining on his deal, it still feels like the best solution for both parties would be to agree to a restructure. But if that doesn’t end up happening, we’ll probably find out how badly Thielen truly wants to retire as a Viking.