Panthers GM gets brutally honest about Adam Thielen’s trade back to Vikings

Carolina Panthers GM Dan Morgan
Carolina Panthers GM Dan Morgan | Jared C. Tilton/GettyImages

As the Minnesota Vikings' wide receiver depth chart kept taking dings during training camp and preseason games, the idea of bringing Adam Thielen back home gained more and more traction. The day after roster cuts around the league, after it had taken a turn toward unlikely, the trade got done.

According to Joe Person of The Athletic, the Vikings' initial offer to the Panthers for Thielen was a sixth-round pick for the veteran wide receiver and a seventh-rounder. No one would blame the Panthers for saying "no thank you" to that, given their own measure of leverage as the Vikings were so obviously in the market for a wide receiver.

According to Person, the Panthers countered by offering Thielen and a fifth-round draft pick for a third-round pick. Then, presumably, it was the Vikings' turn to say "no thank you."

Ultimately, the Vikings sent a 2026 fifth-round pick and a 2027 fourth-round pick to Carolina for Thielen. They also got a conditional 2026 seventh-round pick and a 2027 fifth-round pick in the deal.

Based on the draft value charts, the Vikings essentially gave up a late fourth-round pick for Thielen. Some might call that an overpay, but it's hardly an egregious one.

Carolina Panthers GM reveals obvious tipping point for trading Adam Thielen to Minnesota Vikings

Thielen recently turned 35 (on Aug. 22), and he has hinted this season could be his last. With that in mind, there was the easy sentiment around the trade speculation that he wouldn't mind coming back to the Vikings to finish his career.

Panthers general manager Dan Morgan was on with Kyle Bailey of WFNZ radio in Charlotte on Thursday. The Thielen trade was an obvious topic, and Morgan made an unsurprising reveal.

"It's kinda hard, when I sit Adam Thielen down in my office and he is just really wanting to go there and he's pretty adamant that 'this is what I want, this is where I want to go,' I didn't really want to stand in his way," Morgan said. "It was something that he was really convicted about. He wanted to go and finish his career there. Obviously he's from there, he has a house there, he has young kids. There's a human side to it, too."

The Panthers were operating a delicate balance between valuing Thielen and having a group of young wide receivers they're excited about. It was a tough position for Morgan to be in, and he acknowledged that Thielen could have been disgruntled if he hadn't been traded to the Vikings.

"At the end of the day, we sent him there, we agreed to it," Morgan said. "Adam being so adamant to go there, it was just kinda hard for me to stand in his way. (To have) him be here, maybe he'd be disgruntled, maybe he'd be fine, but we would've had to find that out."

It's no surprise to find out how adamant Thielen was about wanting to be traded back to the Vikings. What is surprising is how Morgan avoided "GM speak" to acknowledge Thielen's desire to come back home, while also acknowledging not wanting to "stand in his way."

Thielen got what he wanted, the Vikings filled their wide receiver void, and the Panthers netted something close to what they wanted for him. All's well that ends well.

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