The Minnesota Vikings and wide receiver Adam Thielen have agreed to terms on a four-year, $73 million dollar contract. The deal carries with it $64 million in guarantees and keeps him with the team through the 2022 season. Thielen, a Minnesota State product, has spent the entirety of his five-year career with the Minnesota Vikings.
The #Vikings and WR Adam Thielen agreed on a 4-year deal worth $64M with $73M maximum, per his agent Blake Baratz on Instagram. He gets $35M guaranteed. pic.twitter.com/WPaMYlmJ55
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) April 12, 2019
Adam Thielen, Minnesota Vikings Agree to Four-Year Contract Extension
Adam Thielen is coming off the best season of his young career. Playing and starting in all 16 games, Thielen recorded 113 receptions for 1,373 yards and nine touchdowns. He was particularly dominant through the first eight games of the season, compiling 74 receptions for 925 yards and six touchdowns at the season’s midpoint.
Thielen initially entered the NFL as an undrafted free agent following the 2013 NFL Draft. While he eventually grew into one of the best in the game, the Minnesota State product couldn’t even make the active roster in 2013. The Vikings saw something they liked in Thielen, as he spent the entirety of the 2013 season on Minnesota’s practice squad.
Minnesota brought Thielen back for another run in 2014, and this time he made the active roster. Serving as a depth option, Thielen finished his first season of NFL action with eight receptions for 137 yards and a touchdown. 2015 was more of the same, as Thielen recorded 12 receptions for 144 yards during his second season on the active roster.
Thielen first emerged in 2016. Earning a starting spot in Minnesota’s offense, the former undrafted free agent broke out with 69 receptions for 967 yards and five touchdowns. He proved this wasn’t a one-year fluke when he recorded 91 receptions for 1,276 yards and four touchdowns in 2017. His impressive play was a big reason the Vikings made it all the way to the NFC Championship Game.
Thielen’s big payday comes less than one year after the Vikings extended fellow wide receiver Stefon Diggs to a five-year contract. Diggs earned his payday in July of 2018, and this duo is now locked up through the 2022 season.
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