EAGAN, Minn. — The Minnesota Vikings waived receiver Adam Thielen on Monday, one day after he was a healthy scratch in the team’s 26-0 loss to the Seattle Seahawks.
The decision ends Thielen’s second and final stint with the Vikings, who are his hometown team and for whom he ranks No. 3 in career touchdown catches (55), fourth in receptions (542) and fifth in receiving yards (6,751). He said in a statement posted on social media that he long ago decided that 2025 would be his final season and that he hoped to find a new home to “go compete elsewhere for the last few weeks of my career.”
#Skol https://t.co/PmpGmts9lr pic.twitter.com/AAZl4B0q6j
— Adam Thielen (@athielen19) December 1, 2025
“As a Minnesota native, putting on this uniform over the years and representing this community both on and off the field has always meant that much more to me. This team is in my bones. It’s in my heart and it’s part of my DNA. I will ALWAYS be a Minnesota Viking,” Thielen, 35, wrote in his statement.
According to Vikings general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah, Thielen’s agent asked the Vikings to release him last week.
The team had acquired Thielen on Aug. 27, sending the Carolina Panthers a 2026 fifth-round draft pick and a 2027 fourth-round pick. The Vikings received Thielen, a conditional 2026 seventh-round pick and a 2027 fifth-round pick in return.
The deal provided decidedly short-term value. In essence, it gave the Vikings experienced depth at the start of the season while starter Jordan Addison served a three-game suspension. Thielen was highly motivated to return to Minnesota and, as part of the trade negotiations, agreed to take a $2 million pay cut for this season, reducing his compensation from roughly $7 million to $5 million.
Since Addison returned in Week 5, however, Thielen had played only a handful of snaps per game. The Vikings’ top three receivers — Justin Jefferson, Jalen Nailor and Addison — have all remained healthy. In his final game with the team, in Week 12 at the Green Bay Packers, Thielen played only three snaps.
“We’ve had pretty remarkable health in that receiving room this year,” coach Kevin O’Connell said. “We were trying to find ways to get him tagged in there on some plays here and there and just we haven’t had a lot of plays as of late.”
In 11 games this season, Thielen caught eight passes for 69 yards. As part of his statement, Thielen wrote that this “is certainly not how any of us imagined it would go.”
Said Adofo-Mensah: “Adam is one of the all-time great Vikings, and we wish him and his family continued success.”
Thielen had a 1,000-yard season as recently as 2023, when he had 1,014 yards on 103 receptions for the Panthers. He has 693 catches for 8,380 yards and 64 touchdowns in 12 seasons.
Born in Detroit Lakes, Minnesota, Thielen played collegiately at Minnesota State University, Mankato, and spent the first nine seasons of his professional career with the Vikings. The team released him after the 2022 season amid Jefferson’s emergence as an All-Pro receiver and ahead of the decision to make Addison a first-round draft pick in 2023.
Thielen’s 542 receptions with the Vikings is more than any player in team history other than Cris Carter, Randy Moss and Jefferson. Carter and Moss are members of the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
