Vikings Release Adam Thielen Ahead of 2023 Free Agency

EAGAN, Minn. — Adam Thielen’s storybook chapters of playing for the Vikings have ended.

Minnesota on Friday terminated the contract of the receiver who climbed his way up from an unheralded and undrafted free agent to the franchise leaderboard in multiple categories.

Thielen ranks third in team history in receptions (534) and receiving touchdowns (55) and fourth in receiving yards (6,682).

Those numbers, along with his humble career origin story, elevated Thielen to folk hero status around the state, resonating from Lake Superior’s North Shore to Southwest Minnesota and his Detroit Lakes hometown in Northwest Minnesota down to Bluff Country by the Mississippi River.

The legacy added another chapter in 2022 when Thielen was named Vikings Community Man of the Year for his work through Thielen Foundation, which he launched in 2018.