PTI - Adam Thielen Returns to Vikings, Rashee Rice Suspended

Episode Date: August 27, 2025

Mina Kimes and Frank Isola discuss Adam Thielen, Rashee Rice, and the Dallas Cowboys. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hey, sports fans, the ESPN app has all of ESPN all in one place. The ESPN app is your home to thousands of live events, ESPN shows, and originals across every ESPN network and service. And now you can check if you already have ESPN Unlimited as part of your TV package for no additional calls. Visit activate.esPN.com to learn how to access your account or sign up, then start streaming in the ESPN app. It's all of ESPN all in one place. Sign up or activate now. Pardon the interruption, but I'm Frank Isola. Sadly, it's our last PTI of the week, Mina. You're gonna miss working with me, be fair.

I mean, it comes. Sure. I'm just glad you had me back for another day. Me, I'm calling the shots, all right. They said it was like multiple choice. The first two guys couldn't do it. You got back to me and said, all right. We need to have a show.

You're always free. It's so much fun. One more day together. Everybody loves you. Mina. Welcome to PTI, everyone. Mike and Tony are still on their RV trip through Yosemite. So I'm joined by my great friend from NFL Live and the Mina Kimes show featuring Lenny, Mina Kimes, everyone. It's kind of a Wednesday Friday applause a little bit. All right, let's get going here. Let's start

with wide receiver news from the NFL. The Panthers traded. Adam Thieland back to the Vikings from whom he had two Pro Bowl seasons and Chiefs Pass catcher Rishi Rice has accepted a six-game suspension for his role in a multi-car crash in Dallas in 2024 that left several people injured. Okay, Mina, what's the bigger wide receiver news to you? I'll go with Rice because he's the more impactful player on the better team. Look, the Chief's offense obviously went to the Super Bowl last year without him, but Frank, I would argue with him they can be a top five unit again. People forget how good he was in the second half of his rookie season. From that point until the first three weeks of last year before he got hurt.

He led all receivers league-wide in yards after the catch. They figured out how to use Xavier Worthy. As I said yesterday, Travis Kelsey looks good, but Rishi Rice is the number one receiver in this offense. So his absence is huge. That said, I think the chiefs are actually happy that is coming at the beginning of the season because they have some certainty,

they can game plan for it, and then they get him back when it matters most. Yeah, see, now people like you who live your life and you know the NFL as well as anybody. Everyone keeps waiting for the demise of the Kansas City Chiefs, and everyone talks about their wide receivers. When Tyreek Hill wasn't there, everyone told me they weren't going to be that good anymore. They go to three straight Super Bowls.

You're right. They absolutely need rice. But they got the guy a quarterback that is head and shoulders above everyone in the league. So it seems to me it's kind of a plug-in play thing. Whoever they put in there somehow, he makes it work. And when they get rice back, and I think you're 100% right, It was smart to figure this out now as opposed to later on in the season. So I think they'll be fine.

But when you look at Thielen, what's gone on with him, he spent a couple of years with the Panthers. And with Bryce Young, it was important to have a, you know, a veteran receiver that could kind of help him through his growing pains. You know, the last 10 weeks of the season, Bryce Young played a lot better. I think Thieland had a lot to do with it. Now he goes back to Minnesota. And what do we have? A rookie quarterback in J.J. McCarthy. he's worked out with him the last two summers.

So something tells me this was probably in the works for a couple of months. And you're getting a guy who wants to be back in Minnesota. Born there, went to college there, his best years were with the Vikings. I think it's a smart move by Minnesota, especially with a young starting quarterback. A Minnesota team that won't have Jordan Addison speaking suspensions will be out for a few games. But you talked about how good Bryce Young was in the second half of the season. You're absolutely right. Phelan was a big part of that.

In that second half, he led the team in targeting. share yards. He got 80% of Bryce Young's passes, Frank. So while I understand why they traded him, they drafted a receiver in the first round, he looks great. Teddaroa McMillan, a little nervous because the development of Bryce Young has been so important for them. And he was the veteran presence in that offense. Yeah, and it's now what they have left is a young receiving core. So you are taking a bit of a gamble. As for Thielen, think about this. He is, first of all, he's going to probably start, you know, opposite Justin Jefferson in week one, which by the, the way, it will be an ABC game against the Bears. But you're talking about a guy, only Randy

Moss and Chris Carter have more receptions with the Minnesota Vikings. Those guys are Hall of Famers, so it's pretty darn impressive. Good company. All right. The NFL opener between the Cowboys and Eagles is a week from tomorrow and Micah Parsons still hasn't suited up. Cowboys head coach Brian Schottnheimer says that even if a deal gets done with the hold-in before the game, Parsons will probably need a ramp up plan and probably wouldn't even be able to play every day. down in Philly. Frank, is it getting a little late for Michael Parsons to play like Micah Parsons in next week's opener? Yeah, we're getting down to the nitty-gritty here and they're going to practice Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, then they'll fly to Philly on Wednesday. So at some point

you think he's got to come back. You know, I'm sympathetic to the former players when I hear them talking about it because they know as well as anybody and you hear guys talk about it would be malpractice if they throw him out there. Well, number one, he is under contract to play. And it is football. This guy is a football player. The fact that he's there, every day at camp. He's a world-class athlete. You know that he's keeping himself in shape. And Schottnerner came out and said he's probably not going to play every play. And I'm going to bring up a name and a guy you know as well as anybody, one of the greatest defensive players of all time. And that's Aaron Donald.

2017, 2018. He doesn't show up for training camp. I don't do training camp. What are he doing in 2017? 11 sacks and 14 games the following year, 20 and a half sacks he had. So I get it. Practice is important. Training camp is important. But great. players have a habit of rising to the top. I'll throw out another name, Chris Jones. Only a couple years ago, you remember, he skipped camp. He held out week one, watched inside the stadium. Then he comes back, and he has two sacks in his first game.

He had seven sacks in his first five games. He was fine. Now, that said, you know, NFL players aren't like you, Frank. They can't just roll out of bed, show up, looking pretty, smile, and have a great performance. There is a concern about soft tissue injuries at times when guys are thrust into action. That is something to monitor. But I have another question for you. This is the opener, right?

Obviously, this negotiation is between the Cowboys and Micah Parsons. But at a certain point, if you're the NFL, aren't you a little perturbed that this storyline is going to hang over week one if Parsons isn't out there? Yeah, I think the NFL is you tell me would Jerry Jones be perturbed? Because everyone will be talking about him and Micah Parsons. But you do have the defending Super Bowl champs. This is one of the best rivalries in the sport. So you're going to have week one. I mean, it's going to get a great rating.

and that's going to be the focus here. Because the average fan doesn't want to hear about this. They just want to see the guys play. They don't want to hear about contract disputes and things like that. So do you think that works in Parsons' favor then? Maybe it gives them a little bit of leverage, but I think you hit on the sort of odd variable here, which is the Jerry Jones of the doll.

Does he even care if they're fielding the best team possible? Is a reasonable and open question? I would care because, quite frankly, if Michael Parsons isn't out there, I have trouble seeing this being a competitive game, but I do not pretend to understand what drives or motivates Jerry Jones in these negotiations. I still feel like he's going to play in week one. And we've been sitting around here now for three days. We keep thinking the news is going to come down any moment.

It's going to come down any moment. So let me ask you, when do you think it's going to happen? All the other key guys from all the other hold-ins are signed, when is it going to happen for Michael Parsons? And do you believe it's going to happen? I still think so in the next few days because it would be too dumb not to, but that's not a good reason for the Dallas Cowboys apparently. Yeah, you're 100% right. All right.

Now, now, now let's move on to the U.S. Open where Cocoa golf is through to the second round, but it wasn't easy. The third seat took the court for her first match after hiring a new serving coach and promptly double faulted in her first game. She'd do that 10 times in all, but still managed to win in three sets. So, Mina, what did you see in Coco's performance last night? I think you saw that her biggest opponent right now is still herself. The double faults continue.

At one point, she had a chance to seal the deal in the third, and she just couldn't. She double faulted twice, and then she did. But it was concerning to see, Frank, because, as you know, this is something she's been struggling with now for some time. 320 double faults this year. That's more than a hundred more than the next player. Now, to give her some grace, you alluded to this,

she did change coaches. It's the same biomechanics expert who helps Sabalanka fix her service. So we might be seeing this process play out in real time on the court, which is fine. And maybe it'll take some time. But as far as this particular tournament, right now the early returns are a little alarming. Yeah, Gavin McMillan is that coach that you talk about. This is why you're great. You give the analytics for football, and now you're giving the analytics for tennis as well

with all the double faults that she has. But you know what? It actually is improvement, believe it or not. She had a match in July, late July up in Montreal. She had 23 double faults. Then she had another match where she had 14 double fault. So 10 actually doesn't sound too bad. But at 5'3 in the third set, when you're serving for the match and you double fall twice on your service game, that's a problem.

Because it's one thing to beat Ayla Tamjanovich, who, you know, what is she ranked in the, I think, 79th in the world. Yeah. You know, you want to advance through the tournament. You cannot win with all those double faults. The other interesting thing about Coco is she changes coaches as often as I change. my opinion. I mean, Brad Gilbert, a few years back, and then she had, it was Matt Daley, who she gets rid of just before the U.S. Open. Now it's this new coach. I think she's always searching because I think she's really hard on herself when she loses, because remember,

Mina, she went out in the first round of Wimbledon, and now we see her in the next major, and what's happening last night? She's losing the second set, and then she's really in a battle on that third set, right? Still so young, by the way. I know obviously it's only a couple years since she won this tournament, but she is still a very young player. Makes sense she'd be going through different eras. Something that I found interesting, and I'm sure this has a connection to the new coach. Early in the match, she wasn't hitting that hard. Serf was like 88 miles per hour. And then by the end, she cranked it up to 117, got more into her comfort zone. So I'm curious to see in her next outing whether or not it's more like the end where she adds the velocity or we again

see her work through that. Another great set. You're right. She went from like the high 80s to the 90s and she was over 100. I mean, she absolutely kills the ball. And this guy McMillan, he's worked with Sabalanka before and she's improved her serve as well. So who knows? Really what the tournament wants, and never admit it. They want Coco against Savalanka in that final. That's always fun. All right. Let's take a break, but still to come, Archmanning has a lot to prove when Texas takes on Ohio State on Saturday. But does Buckeyes quarterback Julian saying have even more in his shoulders? And which head coach has more challenges this season?

Dion Sanders or Bill Belichick? Tossup is next. Do you like that last name saying? I like it. Just saying. It's a great headline, man. It really is. It's time to go head to head with Mina in Tossup.

What's first? Toss up which quarterback has more to prove on Saturday? Texas is Arch Manning or Ohio State's Julian San. All right. On Saturday, we're getting number one Texas at number three Ohio State. They're defending national champions. the second time since 1950, we've had two teams in the top three playing each other in the opening week. And they met in the Cotton Bowl, the national semifinals last year. Steve

Sarkisian claims that 32 players from that game were on NFL rosters during training camp. That's pretty amazing. It's hard to believe. All right. So Manning has the name. I get it. So what comes with that is a lot of pressure. But the pressure seems to come when you get to the NFL. If you're a guy replacing Will Howard who just won a national championship and you're at Ohio State and there's a lot of pressure that comes with that team. The whole state of Ohio is invested in Ohio State.

They're coming off a national championship. He's never started a game before and it isn't even really about this game. It's going to be about that game in late November when it's Michigan. So it's about Michigan and national championships. So it's Julian saying under a lot of pressure. Frank, it's obviously Archmanning. Come on.

I mean, they're the number one team in the country. He's the preseason Heisman favorite. And yes, his last name is Manning, which is the closest thing we have in this sport to a royal family. He is supposed to be the prince that was promised. The hype could not be higher as to whether or not it's justified. I'll say this. I thought he looked good in his two starts against unranked opponents last year. When he came in for Quinners against UT San Antonio, he also did something.

that really impressed me, which was he ran for over 60 yards. And that's where he is different from his uncles. He is an incredible athlete, which gives me hope that even if he has some ups and downs as a passer, that athleticism should bolster him early on. All right. What determines whether or not he's in the draft? Is it how well he played this year or is it who has the number one pick? What do you think it comes down to?

I would say the number one pick is definitely something they're considering, but there's no pressure on him to go right now. He's also making a ton of NIL money. because I think he remember his uncle did the same thing with a team. Both uncles did something when it came to the draft. All right, what's next? Toss up, who will face more challenges this season? Dion Sanders or Bill Belichick?

All right, Dion in year three at Colorado, home on Friday against Georgia Tech. Bill Belichick, maybe you've heard the news. He's now at North Carolina. They get TCU on Monday. Dion's already recorded a big win in 2025. He beat bladder cancer, so good for him. One of the challenges he's going to have for me for Dion, he lost the Heisman trophy winner, and it's going to be the first time in five years that his son isn't going to be his quarterback.

So I think that's going to be a big challenge to him. Plus, they seem to be on the rise of Colorado, nine and four last year. So I think a lot of people are going to sit back and say, all right, Dion, we get it. You did really well in the transfer portal as usual, but you had the Heisman trophy winner. A lot of last year's team was centered around your son. How can you do without those two players? My thoughts for Bill, though, because while Dion does face challenges, losing Hunter in particular, is massive. He's been doing this already. I also think that their defense is going to be better than they've been in the last couple of years. They've really struggled, whereas Bill Belichick is dealing with 41 players from the transfer portal. He already has to make this big leap in terms of relating to and coaching these college players.

They're guys who have never even played together. So that in and of itself is going to be a challenge. And that's even without touching all of the odds. off the field stuff. Yeah. I'm going to make a bold claim here. Bill Belichick is going to be more of a circus off the field than Dion Sanders has been. Darren Reveld just reported today.

I have to bring this up that he and his girlfriend, Jordan Hudson, apparently trademarked the term gold digger for some jewelry. Stories like that are going to make headlines, Frank, and that's going to persist. Yeah, I thought Kanye West had that. You know, you mentioned the circus, but it's kind of similar to Dion. Like Dion took over a losing program. Everything was kind of centered around him. He went heavy into the transfer portal.

Like you mentioned, Bill Belichick, did the same thing. He's taking over a team that's six and seven. So I think he'll get a little grace period the first year, as long as everything off the field isn't too bad. By the way, Caden Salter will be Colorado's starting quarterback. All right, what's next? Toss up. Do you see the NL East as in play or a done deal? All right.

I grew up as a Met fans, so that's the team I supported. and I'm not buying it. So the Mets have won two straight against the Phillies. Last night they win six, five, bases loaded, walk off single, Brandon Nimmo. I get it. Two great wins, but they're five back. And they still have to play four more games in Philadelphia, and they've struggled to win games there.

Five is a lot to make up in one month. That's not to say that when it gets to the playoffs, and at some point they end up playing each other, just like last year, the Mets can't beat the Phillies, The Mets went through a stretch. Think about this, Mena. They had a stretch 19 days starting in late July. They went 2 and 14, but now in their last 10,

there's 7 and 3. And three of those games came, but three of those wins came against your Seattle Mariners. But I'm not buying. I don't think they can catch them. I'm always thrown when you don't take the pro New York stance in one of these. Sorry. I agree with you.

I think 5 is just too many. As hot as the Mets have been leading major leagues in run scored since August 12th, and as much as the Phillies have struggled. And for me, this is more about Philadelphia. I just think they're better than the team we've seen the last few games in this series against New York. They've gone three for 19 with runners in scoring position. I think Duran is better, the closer than he has looked like. And perhaps most importantly, I looked at the schedule.

It's not hard. Playing the Mets again, that's difficult. But they've got Atlanta. They've got the D-backs. They've got the twins. They can keep that gap. Even if it shrinks a little bit, I think they're still going to win the division. Yeah, since I took Arch Manning, I figure, you know what, I'm going to get killed.

So I better take the Phillies. You mentioned the Mets, 19 runs in their last two games. They've averaged 7.1 runs, like you mentioned, since August 12th. And Duran was interesting. They brought him on last night. You know, that was their big pickup for the Phillies, getting that closer. He comes on in the night. He didn't get an out.

Four singles, Phillies end up losing the game. All right, that's it. Let's take one last break, but still will come. The NFL lifts a ban on Tom Brady. And did U.S. Rider Cup Captain Kevin Bradley make the right call about his own playing prospects? You really think there's pressure on Arch Manning? Certainly not financial pressure. Pardon the interruption is brought to you by Popeyes.

Love That Chicken from Popeyes. It's happy time, everyone. Happy 31st birthday, Brianna Stewart. The two-time WNBA MVP is back on the court for the Liberty after missing 13 games with the bone bruise in a right knee. Stewart Squad started the season 9-0, but has gone 14 and 15 since. The team has six more regular season games

before it begins its quest for a second straight title. Hard to believe she's only 31, Frank, given that she's a seven-time all-star, three-time champion. If she wants to get that fourth championship, her being back in the lineup is essential for a Liberty team that when five and nine in her absent fell from second place to fifth,

they need her scoring, they need her rebounding, but I'd argue they need her defense most of all. Yeah, they've really struggled without her. Happy anniversary. York Cosmos. How about that? On this day, 47 years ago, the Cosmos beat the Tampa Bay Rowdies 3-1 to win the NASL championship. These were the post-Pelais Cosmos, and they starred German legend Franz Beckenbauer and Italian Giant, is there any other kind, Georgio Canalia, who had 34 goals in just 30 regular season games, and he added one in the title when and added afterwards, quote,

I was never worried about them. You know what's so wild about that championship game. It was played in Giant Stadium in front of a crowd of 74,000 people. That is how big the Cosmos were. Now they're in the USL. They're playing in your neck of the woods in New Jersey, I believe, in a 7,800-person stadium, quite the difference. Months earlier, I went to Pele's last game at Giant Stadium, 1977. Where were you?

You should have been there. It was a big event. Happy trails to the idea of Keegan Bradley picking himself to play in the Rider Cup. Bradley will instead give complete focus on his duties as captain. today announcing Justin Thomas, Colin Moracawa, Ben Griffin, Cameron Young, Patrick Cantley, and Sam Burns as his captain picks. Bradley had a legit case to become the first playing captain since Arnold Palmer in 1963, but explained that while he's dreamed of playing this competition since he was a kid, quote, I'm 100% certain this was the right choice. Good for him. I understand wanting to send the message that's about the team,

but he really could have played eighth best in the U.S. 11th and Ryder Cup rankings. I don't think it's too much to ask if someone to be a player and a captain. And he went to St. John's and it's at Beth Page. It's kind of close together. Would have been a nice story. Give him credit, though, for doing the right thing here. All right, no errors today.

So let's go to the big finish. The Ravens made Kyle Hamilton the highest paid safety in NFL history. Is that deserved? 100%. He saved their season last year, switching to free safety, unbelievable and versatile player. Baseball suspended, Wilson Contrera, six games for his outburst. Does that sound about right? It seems a little excessive, but I think throwing the bat, hitting the batting coach in the direction of the umpires. That's where he got himself in trouble. The athletic says that the NFL will now allow Tom Brady to take part of production meetings with coaches and teams this season. Is that okay with you? It's fine. They're not actually revealing that much in these meetings.

It is a little weird, though, that he's calling the games about teams that are actually going against his own team. That's a whole other story. Astro Slugger Gordon Alvarez played last night for the first time since May 2nd. Big deal? It's a huge deal. It's bad news for our Seattle Mariners because the Astros have had all kinds of injuries, and somehow they're still in first place. Last one, Carlos Alvarez and his shaved head are back on the court tonight? Are you intrigued?

Unless he lost his tennis powers with his hair, no, I'm not intrigued. This would be easy. You intrigued by my hair. We're out of time. Thanks for watching. I'm Frank Isola. And I'm Inakhan. PTI is back next Tuesday on ESPN

and when Tony and Mike will also return.