With Thielen trade, Carolina Panthers took a big risk that will pay off
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Panthers traded Adam Thielen to Vikings for what amounted to 2027 fourth-round draft pick.
- Trade clears salary space and shifts focus to Panthers’ young wide receiver corps.
- Rookie Tetairoa McMillan expected to emerge as Bryce Young’s primary target in 2025.
For a team that has certainly been fleeced before in the NFL trade market, I thought the Carolina Panthers did well with the Adam Thielen deal.
The Panthers sent the 35-year-old Thielen, who has been their most consistent receiver for the past two seasons, back home to Minnesota. As part of the trade, four draft picks changed hands, too. But all you really need to know is that the Panthers got the equivalent of a 2027 fourth-round pick for Thielen — a good outcome given that Thielen is close to the end of his career.
Now the next thing I would do, if I were the Panthers, is re-sign Hunter Renfrow. He plays Thielen’s slot receiver position and does so at a fraction of the price (the Panthers cut the former Clemson star earlier this week).
But even if Renfrow ends up on another NFL team — he might — I like the move. The Thielen trade is about the future. Third-year quarterback Bryce Young will now be throwing to three wide receivers with less experience than he has but who sport a good deal of talent: Tetairoa McMillan (who clearly will be WR1 and is ready to do so), Xavier Legette (who still needs to prove some things) and Jalen Coker (a pleasant surprise from the day he arrived).
It’s a complete youth movement for Carolina at wideout, and there’s no more security blanket for Young, either. Thielen bailed Young out of a lot of third-down situations over the past two years, and that’s now over. But that’s OK. The Panthers only went 7-27 over those two years.
That’s not Thielen’s fault, since he doesn’t play defense.
Still, it’s fine to try something new, and in reality Carolina really was doing that already. It already looked to me like Thielen was definitely not as big a part of the offense in training camp as he was in 2023 and 2024.
Financially, it’s also true that Panthers general manager Dan Morgan helped his team by not taking on any of Thielen’s remaining base salary (6.25 million).
As for Thielen, I do believe he’s on the tail end of his career and it was a good time for the Panthers to part ways with him.
With that said, let’s agree that Thielen’s on- and off-field leadership and service will be missed in Charlotte, and also that he has made a superb career out of proving doubters wrong. The former undrafted free agent made two Pro Bowls during his nine earlier seasons with the Vikings, from 2014-2022. And then in his first season at Carolina, he caught 103 passes during a 1,000-yard year in 2023. I thought he was the team’s Most Valuable Player that season.
Even last year, when a hamstring injury caused Thielen to miss seven games, he had 48 catches for 615 yards and five touchdowns. He’s going to help Minnesota, especially in the short term, given the Vikings’ current depth-chart issues at the position.
But Thielen was on an expiring contract, he was pretty expensive, and he had already flirted with retirement at the end of the 2024 season. Those targets really need to go to the youngsters. They are the future. McMillan, the Panthers’ first-round pick in April, should have a 1,000-yard season in 2025.
If T-Mac doesn’t reach 1,000 yards, either the Panthers are doing something wrong, or he got hurt.
The Panthers didn’t do something wrong with this trade, though. This is a good deal.
This story was originally published August 27, 2025 at 11:46 AM.
