Purple Insider - a Minnesota Vikings and NFL podcast - EMERGENCY PODCAST: Vikings waive Adam Thielen

Episode Date: December 1, 2025

Matthew Coller reacts to the Vikings' decision to waive Adam Thielen. The Purple Insider podcast is brought to you by FanDuel. Also, check out our sponsor HIMS at https://hims.com/purpleinsider Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See https://pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Hey, everybody, welcome to an emergency purple insider podcast here, presented by Fandul. The Minnesota Vikings announced this morning that they have waived Adam Thielen. So the second run of Adam Thielen is a Minnesota Viking comes to an end after just 12 unproductive games. And I will read you the Vikings press release, a statement from general manager Quasi Adolfo Mensa. He says last week, Adam's representation approached the team and asked if we would be willing to release Adam, expressing his desire to play a bigger role in the remaining weeks of what he has indicated will be his final NFL season. Following discussions through the weekend and out of respect for Adam, we have agreed to give him the opportunity to pursue. more playing time elsewhere. Adam is one of the all-time great Vikings, and we wish him and his family continued success. So to review the trade for Adam Thielen, just to go back, if you forgot

what the Vikings gave up, here's what it was. Carolina for Adam Thielen got a 2026 fifth round pick and a 2027 fourth rounder in exchange for Thielen and a 2026 conditional seventh and a 2027 fifth. So there was a pick swap in 2027. The Panthers move up to a fourth. The Vikings get a fifth and they get a 2026 fifth round pick, which if you've got your handy trade charts with you, then you'll see that it adds up to about in the favor of the Carolina Panthers, a fourth round pick. So Thielen for a fourth turns out to be absolutely nothing for the Minnesota Vikings and a fourth round pick for the Carolina Panthers.

And you can chalk that up to a very big L that goes on the growing pile of Ls for the Minnesota Vikings, their front office, their coaches this year in this four and eight season where they have produced nowhere close to what the expectations are. And that's how I would describe Adam Thielen in Minnesota. I remember after they made the trade, we had a discussion of an over under for the number of catches that Thelan would get as a Viking. And I think that I added it up to, you know, maybe 25 to 30 somewhere in that range was the over under.

And I think a lot of people were taking the over. they figured that Thielen would come back and he would fit in fairly well and quickly to the offense. He had been in it in 2022. And then they would maybe switch in and out him and Jalen Naylor. He would become a rotational player after those first three games and that he would end up with a halfway productive season on a team that would compete for the playoffs. And we would say, hey, I know they gave up that draft capital, but here's what he gave you. That's what the expectation was for Adam Thielen in Minnesota. And what actually happened was he gave them very little in the first three games, totally unproductive, a couple of drops mixed in there.

And then was Ryan the pine for the rest of the time, barely getting any sort of snaps. I decided to just throw this right up here live. So I can pull up the statistics for you, the final numbers on Adam Thielen with not only receptions and targets, but his snaps as well. So he finishes with eight receptions on 16 targets, 8.6 yards per reception, and three drops for Thielen this year. That's what the Vikings got in return for a fourth round draft pick. And if we look at his actual snaps this season started out with a lot of playing time in those first three games, 32, 38, 45. And then by the Green Bay game, he played three total snaps.

And he was under 10 for four straight weeks and five out of the last six games, under 10 snaps. Again, that's what the Vikings traded for with Adam Thielen. And I think that what the Thielen trade really shows us. And this was always in the cards. Now, I will say, I am as surprised as anyone. that it turned out this way, because when you look back at what he had done last year for the Carolina Panthers, he had 48 catches last season for 615 yards last year for Carolina.

And even though the same, you know, explosiveness was not there in Carolina like it once was for the Vikings, he wasn't in his prime, when we looked at the trade and said, well, you know, if you're talking about a guy who had a 76.4 PFF grade in 2024, when Bryce Young threw him the ball, Bryce's quarterback rating was over 100 last year. I mean, you thought, okay, like this guy should be able to come in and get them through the first three games without Jordan Addison and then settle into a role the rest of the year on a team that can really use some wide receiver depth because, hey, if somebody gets hurt, somebody goes down, then we were talking about, well, Ty Felton is the next man up. He's never played before. And Felton was mostly on the second

and third teams during training camp. So mostly second. And he's probably not ready to fill into a big role. So you need a veteran. And, you know, Adam Thielen was a guy who was so familiar with what the Vikings did on offense that if there was anybody who could come in and, you know, just be able to slide right into that role and have success, then, hey, it was going to be Adam Thielen. And he was going to bring a little veteran presence. He was going to help a young quarterback the same way that he had the previous season in Carolina. And it did not work at all. And I think that, you know, for Thielen, it is only fair. The organization for the Vikings is doing the right thing by releasing Thelan and allowing him to go see if there's another

team that's competing for a Super Bowl that needs a little wide receiver depth. If somebody's got an injury, like you could see San Francisco maybe picking them up. They've had a bunch of injuries or, you know, I don't know, another team that has been banged up, just bringing them in and maybe it's Green Bay. I mean, would you be really shocked if the Green Bay Packers said, hey, we've got these receiver injuries and receiver struggles and why don't you come in and catch a few passes for us? for him he's playing his last season and he's been one of the best viking's wide receivers of all time. I think he's very borderline to that Mount Rushmore because this is a franchise that has

so many freakishly great wide receivers and you know, Thiel and I think on 90% of the NFL's franchises would easily be in their Mount Rushmore of all time great wide receivers. He's either there or maybe fifth all time for the Vikings. So he is deserving of the reputation as one of this franchise's best wide receivers ever. And I thought at the time that it made sense because of what they had done with everything else. And the whole ethos of what the Vikings were supposed to be in 2025. And this is kind of a bigger point to where if anybody comes out and says, well, this was going to be a transition year or something, this is one of those.

moves that you can point to and say, I don't think so. I don't think that you are able to as the Vikings, and they haven't, but if anybody talks about this season at any point, as in, oh, well, this was going to be a development year for JJ, this was going to be a transition year. It's really next year that we were looking at, this is the trade where you would say, I don't think so, because you don't make this trade unless you completely believe that you are in a position to be in the playoffs and win in the playoffs that's what this team expected to do from the start and they could not have missed by more at this point uh they could not have missed the mark

for what they were going to be and this trade because there are other signings and other moves that are for multiple years so when you extend andrew van ginkle for example like okay well that's to make sure that he's here in the future or even a jonathan allen like it was a multi-year contract, you're expecting him here multiple years. Jordan Mason, like there's a bunch of moves they made that are not just for 20, 25, but also for 2026 as part of their winning window. The Adam Thielen trade was a, we need you right here, right now, because we are expecting to win right here, right now, and it did not happen.

Not only did they not win, but they got almost nothing out of Adam Thieland. And I wish him the best. He has been one of the best players to cover for me for my entire career. He won a Stringer Award, which is the Media Good Guy Award to honor Corey Stringer that we give out every year in 2017. I mean, he was nearly a unanimous pick that year from the media. But he has always been in that conversation every single year. He was available at his locker. this year, always willing to talk.

I just talked to him for a story the other day about something a little bit, you know, different. So he's been great for the community as good as it gets, right? Like everything that you want for a player that you put in the ring of honor, he was a part of so many great moments during the Zimmer era.

And then in 2002, still caught a lot of passes that year as part of that big season. And they tried to run it back and it didn't work. If you were wondering, another guy that was in the running for that fill-in wide receiver, not that this matters, was Kendrick Bourne, who has 31 catches this year at 15 and a half yards per reception for the San Francisco 49ers.

But what, I mean, what does it matter? We're just talking about the entire foundation is crumbling. And this is just talking about the windows, right? Like, it's, you're talking about a franchise that looked like it was at the top. of the mountain and a lot of decisions were clearly made with the expectation that we can do this because we're us. We won 14 games. Our decisions always work out so we can do this because we're us. Folks, this year is the year that I actually get my holiday shopping going early for all of my friends and family and there's only one place on the internet that's going

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regressed and regressed through their last few years because we're us. because we'll get more out of them. We can sign Isaiah Rogers, who's always been a rotational player to be a starter because we're us and we have the secret formula. We can go with a young quarterback who has never played before and barely played in college because we're us and we'll teach them and we can do that. Everything we do ends up working out. It turns to gold, everything we touch.

We can trade for a wide receiver that is 35 years old. that was contemplating retirement already, and we can send too much draft capital over there because we're us, and it'll work because we're us, because everything that we do turns into a success. And I think that they've found out that if you make sub 50% moves and you roll the dice over and over on those moves, you can get beat just like anybody else.

You're human just like anybody else. This stealing move probably didn't have any chance, of justifying the actual price. And the same goes for Jonathan Allen, Javon Hargrave, and Hargrave's been good. You know, it's not, they've both been decent.

It would look a lot different. They're the, they end up getting beaten down for their prices, but, you know, they've both been probably good enough that if the quarterback play was fine, that it wouldn't matter. And the same thing goes for this.

This trait, if the quarterback play was good, and Darnold had come back and they were nine and three, and they released Adam Thielen because he wasn't playing, we'd be like, all right, no emergency podcast. who cares, move on. But this is more of a sign of everything that has gone wrong. And also, we talk a lot about the lack of young players on rookie contracts on this team. And one of the reasons that they don't have a lot of those players is, yes, as many of you

have pointed out many times, they have missed on a lot of those players. But another reason is because they haven't had draft picks. and I know every time I mention that, people say, well, Rick had a lot of draft picks and he missed too. Well, yes, I get that. But your success rate with draft picks is going to be very connected to, or your total success, I should say, not your rate. Your total success is going to be connected to how many picks you have and how high they are. Like that over a long period of time, that's what it's going to be. And since this leadership has gotten here, a group that did not want,

to reset, didn't want to stack draft capital, wanted to win now all the time. One of the things that they've done in order to do that is they have traded a lot of draft capital and they have treated day three picks like they don't matter at all and they've just sort of throwing them away willy-nilly and they have also spent, you know, bigger draft capital on like a T.J. Hawkinson trade. And these are in general moves that you do make when you're ready to win because what am I saving a fifth round draft pick for if I'm ready to win right now? And that's why they make a move like this, an inefficient move and credit to the Panthers. They held out on the Vikings and they said, you're going to pay our price or

we're not going to give you Adam Thielen. And everybody, remember, remember that, that drama, we waited, we waited. It looked like it was over. I reported that it was near dead and then it came back to life, and I'm sure there's a story there of what happened for how it suddenly came back to life at the last second. This also, and you can't really deny it, had the marketing element of bringing back Adam Thielen, the good feelings of bringing back Adam Thielen. And if you go back and listen to the show that I did after they did it, I was in favor of the move because I thought, well, if you guys are really going to win, then you might lose a Jalen Naylor for six weeks in need Adam Thielen. You might lose a Jordan Addison to whatever it might be, injury or

suspension, I suppose, or another one. You never know. Could be one around the corner. And he's already had two of, well, two incidents and then also had to sit out a quarter for whatever happened in London. So you never know that you might need him. But of course, that was was working off of the expectation that J.J. McCarthy was going to be ready and that they were going to win more than four out of their last 12 games. So that's kind of where we're at with the Adam Thielen move, a real sign of everything that has gone wrong for the Minnesota Vikings. And just to finish off that point about the draft, if you are always making these moves where, okay, your left tackle gets hurt and you don't have a swing tackle.

that you trust on the roster so you have to go trade for Cam Robinson or you have to send draft capital out to trade for Cam Acres for the fifth time, then that's what ends up happening is that you don't end up stacking draft capital. You don't have many dart throws. And if you miss on the darts that you have, this is the funny thing. People will ask about the scouting department like they are scouting hundreds of players and the Vikings are taking five. Like, I don't know. Are they doing their job? How should I? I know. I mean, they're looking at hundreds of players that they've got reports on and they're taking five. And, you know, hey, they hit on some of them. I think Levi-Drake Rodriguez has been good.

Will Reichert has obviously been fantastic. And I think in this league, the way it's being played now, having a really good kicker is very valuable, just all things considered. But if you only draft five times or six times, your chances of hitting on a bunch of stars. And look, Jackson's been good. has been fantastic lately. Addison has been a very, very productive draft pick. So you've hit on, I think, at least semi hit or hit on three out of your four first rounders. But if you don't have all those other picks that you've sent out to try to win right now, this is what can happen. And what it's reminiscent of, and I guess time is a flat circle, isn't it? Because what did we criticize the Vikings for a lot at the end of the Zee?

Zimmer and Spielman era. It was making desperate moves. It was feeling like, hey, we got to win right now. We got to trade for whoever. We got a sign. What was it? Chris Herndon. This is the Chris Herndon trade all over again.

It was a team that was not good enough that fully believed that they were good enough. And they thought, well, we've got to give up a fourth round draft pick to get Chris Herndon to fill in for Irv Smith, which then in, in, hindsight looks absolutely ridiculous, but that's what happens when you are in that win now desperation mode is that you lose bigger picture of longer term team building and you get tunnel vision on the must have a number three receiver for these first couple games.

And then if that receiver doesn't produce, you end up looking ridiculous, which is what happened. They end up looking ridiculous. So my thought was that if you're going to go all in, then go all in. And if it blows up in your face, then it blows up in your face. But this year has caused their willingness to go all in to try to win has caused long-term damage. And that's why it reminds me of Zimmer Spielman, 2021, because all the things they did to mess with the salary cap and, you know, trade out later round draft picks. When Quasi Adolfo Menta got here, he had a very very.

bad salary cap situation. He didn't have many draft picks. That's why they traded down from 12 to 32, which we all know is way too far to be trading down. But that's why they did it is because they were trying to restock the cupboard with younger players and with draft picks. Clearly that did not work out either. But it was the same sort of stuff that has long term implications. So now, after something like this, everything has been pushed into 2026. And unless things change wildly over the next few weeks, I mean, they've got eight losses. I suppose you could get to a nine and eight record. I don't think that's going to happen, but I suppose it's possible.

Unless things really, really change, you're talking about a ton of pressure on everyone going into next year. And I think what we're looking at is probably more stuff like this. you've gone this far you've gone down this road to this point and you can't turn around now so you've given up future draft capital for somebody like Adam Thielen but you know what you're probably going to do it again because what other option do you have for next year you've given out bad contracts but you're probably going to do it again because what other option do you have and that is a bad place to be as a franchise and that's where Someone brought it up on the show last night, like this team being analytical.

And my response was, show me the analytics. And this is another one of those deals where all the analytics people, when the Vikings made this trade, we're like, are you joking? Are you joking? This is not a good return for this type of player. And my thought was, this isn't really a time to be analytical. And the Dallas Turner trade is not an analytical trade either. Drafting a guard is not really the most analytical decision. but not that I dislike Donovan Jackson, very high on Jackson.

And I've made the argument that guards are more valuable now than ever. But still, you're talking about one of those non-premium positions. They don't get paid like edge rushers, wide receivers, quarterbacks, and corners. So they've not done a lot of stuff that really matches up with the analytics. What they've really done is a lot of stuff that matches up with a team that is absolutely certain that they are going to compete for a Super Bowl. And I think that there's going to be a turning point moment that we always look back at.

So when I go back to the Zimmer and Spielman, we know what the turning point moment is. It's when they signed Kirk, clearly, that the franchise, and then there's another turning point moment after they win in 2019, and they make a lot of decisions based on winning, having a good season,

and then winning that one playoff game. They made a lot of decisions to extend Zim, to extend Kirk and keep running it back and hope to have a competitive rebuild. Again, time is a flat circle here. Like, that's what they were hoping for then. So there's these turning points. And the one that we're going to look at for a really long time with the Minnesota Vikings and it connects to the Thielen trade is the game against the Los Angeles Rams in the playoffs.

because if they played well in that game and lost, Sam Darnold probably is back on the franchise tag, if they hadn't been beaten in so many very clear areas, the interior of the offensive line, the interior of the defensive line, not being able to pressure Matthew Stafford up the middle and having to rely on blitzes, which they still do, by the way.

They still blitz like crazy. That hasn't changed. The running game, now it's not a bad, trade for Jordan Mason, but isn't it, though, like when Rico Dowdell is playing really well or Giovante Williams is playing really well. And these were just free agents. You didn't have to trade any draft capital for them. And now you're not even using Jordan Mason. It's third and one and you're not even using Jordan Mason. And the Vikings have, I saw Alec Lewis tweet out, what's Mason run for this year? Let me take a look. Mason has run for 578 yards. I mean,

he's been good they just don't give him the ball and that's even with him playing uh as in a starting role and it's another trade where you had to give up draft capital and you could say and i have in the past and i'm guilty of this of saying well look it's only a fourth fifth swap what are the odds of that hitting oh it's only i forget what they gave up for jordan mason it's only this to get jordan mason it's only this to get cam robinson it's only and then at the end of the day it's sort of like me going to Taco Bell all the time. Well, it's only my fourth trip this week to Taco Bell. It doesn't add up, right?

And then you look at your credit card bill and you go, I spent $100 this week at Taco Bell. And it feels like the same sort of thing here where it's like, okay, each individual trade where you're giving up swaps or you're giving up conditional this or whatever, it all ends up adding up. And if you don't win right now, then this is what you end up with is a trade that has just cost you future draft capital

and you get absolutely nothing in return. Since every show does have a fan dual question of the day, and I'm going to do a show again later with the, we've got a roundtable later on. This is the second straight week. We've had an emergency podcast, then a roundtable. So there's going to be a roundtable later tonight. So if you're just joining, welcome a little emergency podcast action here. and the fan dual question of the day is going to be the Vikings are one and a half point

underdogs to the Washington commanders, I mean, they're one and a half point underdogs at home to a team that has, is that three wins or is it four? How many do they have? They have three wins? Quite a game last night. But is this, is this the lowest point? When is the last lowest point for you? I've talked about this a lot.

When was the last lowest point for you? Because them releasing Adam Thielen is sort of reminiscent of 2010 where they bring back Randy Moss and then they release Randy Moss. I don't think it's, I think there were low moments in between that. But being a one and a half point underdog to the Washington commanders who just lost last night in overtime to Denver and have had an absolutely miserable year and are now sitting at three and nine you are underdogs to a three and nine team unimaginably low position is that when's the last lowest position that you can remember 2016 when they lost all those games at

the end of the year yep for sure uh let's talk about something else um so i appreciate uh the comments and uh let me let me get to some of them thank you uh to fargo brady for the super chat says i'm over all of it quacy can draft kOC has zero desire to change change his offense, elevate B-Flow and get Dable or Mikey M from Miami. Oh, yeah, he might get fired too. Well, look, you know, we've reached the point where a lot of times, and I always try to keep the bigger picture in mind. So when we're talking about KOC, K.O.C.

Quasi, Dauvel, Mensa, it is just one year ago that the Vikings were heading into December as a Super Bowl contender. They beat the Falcons against Kirk. the Packers. Since that Packers game, they are 4 and 10, by the way, since that Packers game. Mind blowing. They went 14 and 2 and then 4 and 10.

That's incredible. I mean, I would love to see in history what other franchise is taking a left turn like that to go 14 and 2 through Week 17 of last year and then since then, 4 and 10. That is just absolutely wild. But in terms of major change, changes. I mean, the front office is a discussion. The head coach is in discussion. When you are four and eight and you're an underdog to a three and nine team, everything is on the table. There is nothing that you guys can say, hey, what if they make this change or what if they make

that change? That I can say, hey, no, no, I would never do that or I could never see that happening because how could you say that at this point? After I saw today, Aaron Schatz put this out there, formerly of football outsiders, now FTN fantasy, his DVOA statistic. And one of the things that's great is that it's been around for a long time and it's got historical data. This was, according to him,

this offensive performance against Seattle, worse than 41 donut. It's the worst offensive performance since 1978 for the Vikings. That's just when the data starts. Who knows how much farther it could have gone back. So when you guys are pointing these things out, At some point, everything, every move that you make has a bunch of potential outcomes, right?

One of the outcomes for Adam Thielen is that this works fine. There was never a high end to this. There was never Adam Thielen comes back and is a megastar again, and he's jumping over Marshawn Lattimore like it was 2017. That was never on the table. But 30 catches, 25, played decently through the first three. weeks, give them, you know, give them a dozen catches through the first three weeks and, you know, then fill into a role. But every move that we make, there's a spectrum. And I remember talking

about this when Seth Walder of ESPN put out his grades for their offseason moves. And he slaughtered them. He gave them terrible grades. And I went through them. And I chatted with Seth after because he was watching the show. And I went through them. And what I said about his grades was that they all have range of outcomes, that there is a world where a Jonathan Allen deal turns out great for them. And if he's even two-thirds of what Jonathan Allen has been and they're a winning team, all of it had the only way that these moves were going to work was if they were a winning team and they got good quarterback play. And that's why it all circles back to that and that one decision. But just going back to the point about the Rams game being a pivot point is that game, I think,

really inspired them to move on from Darnold and to go and make all these types of moves and being that close, feeling like they were that one game away, it is reminiscent of getting Kirk in 2018, whereas like if we only had better quarterback play, we'll just get back to the NFC championship and then we'll just win that game and then we'll get to the Super Bowl because we've got a better quarterback. And from year to year, things change that are out of your control. Schedules change. It's, I looked this up yesterday. Last year, The Minnesota Vikings beat one team with a top 10 defense. One team.

It was actually Green Bay twice, but they beat one team with a top 10 defense. This year, they have faced at least in the top 12. I think it was six of the top 12 or five of the top 12 and lost every game. I mean, things schedules, oh, no, they beat the Browns. That was the one. That was the other one. They beat the Browns. So in the last two years, they've got three wins versus top 10 defenses and against

two total teams. I mean, sometimes it's how the schedule plays out that, you know, last year, I think we all knew had smoke and mirrors elements to it because of the schedule. But still, you know, Sam Darnold is proving that he isn't just a fluke. And I think this team would have been still in the race with even decent quarterback play, but they didn't get it. And a lot of these things would probably look better with decent quarterback play, although Thielen, I mean, at no point really from the start,

did look like the Adam Thielen that we remembered in any way or even the Adam Thielen that played for the Panthers last year. So anyway, just kind of bouncing all over the place a little bit now. But there is, there is implications to these things. When you, even if you're doing them in small little increments of bringing this guy, bringing that guy. And when you're doing it out of desperation, you always take the risk that something like this. could happen and if you add up where you end up missing on move after move after move after move this is what you get and one thing that I wrote about yesterday was that because so many things had gone right for them it felt like even from my seat and I'm sure a lot of yours as

well that like they've they've just got the touch like they just are very good at making these deals that are a little bit suspect work out for them you know maybe it's starting an undrafted free agent or something like jalen redmond and like oh okay well i guess they're gonna lean into this udf a and then it works uh or you know last year signing sam darnold okay you know i i liked that move when they signed him because i thought 10 million bucks why not but there was a lot of people, including in the betting markets, that had them winning six games, and then they proved everyone wrong. Oh, Aaron Jones is too old.

Nope, I guess he's not. Like, I guess they figured it out. The medical staff got it right. And this year, every single one of those moves that were kind of bad moves or questionable that had ended up working out, they all went back the other way. So moves that we saw the numbers on, like, hey, Aaron Jones is a little on the older side. And then, hey, whoa, he actually proved us all wrong. But what was the likelihood that he did it again?

Well, after proving everybody wrong once, what was the likelihood that he proved us wrong again? What was, and just to go into this theme a little bit deeper, even like a Byron Murphy, who I was very much for, and it's a longer term contract. I think he's a good player. But six interceptions is what got him paid. He wasn't going to get six picks again. I just he had never done it before in his career and he gets paid on six picks now the other options DJ REACH are various war those guys haven't worked out either for big signing so you know I'm still good

with that I'm still good with signing Byron Murphy but the price tag had a lot to do with you know this guy got six picks and he's got he can he can buck the trend right of the corners who get a big year and get paid and then do not perform at the same level so all over the field there's these decisions or even like a Will Fries who I think has been fine but it's like is it worth 17 million well we wanted them to do the guard thing really badly but their desperation played into paying a guy 17 million at that position is it a great move is it the most savvy move no and if you do that over over and over and over again you're going to get bit pretty hard and at some point and that's what happened here like if you're

If you're betting on a quarterback who's never played, who the comparables are Mitch Trubisky and Mark Sanchez, and you're saying, no, we're different, you might get bit. And if you're getting a 35-year-old wide receiver who's regressed and might not be able to do the things that he did before, you might get bit and you give up a big price for him. And so that's the, that is the theme of this year, is that every risky move that they made that probably has less than a 50% chance,

but is a big roll of the dice, has not ended up playing. playing out for them. So Isaiah said these jokers, well, they didn't trade away Cambinem, but they let go, Cambinem, which I know now kind of feels like, whatever, I mean, okay, but it's a fair point that their assessment of a lot of things, including allowing Cambinem to go, because I'm certain that Caminam would have stayed, but allowing him to go betting on Theo Jackson. Again, that's another, this is a sixth round pick who was released by the Titans. and from my perspective, he was having good training camps and stuff,

which I think now it's going to be a little bit harder when we get into camp. I think there's going to be a lot of fans being like, oh, someone looks good. Are you sure? But the same sort of thing of, well, is it a good bet to bet on a guy who has been really good for them behind the scenes? He's made a handful of plays when he's gotten in. But your other guy is worth 15 mil on the open market because, he's an excellent player and you say no no no we we can make again we can make the bad move because we've got the answers and what what football teaches you is that nobody has all the

answers so that's another one to look at i mean i think in the bigger picture for this year that wouldn't have made much of a difference but he got a what four year contract so that would have been somebody who was on the younger side when harrison smith retires to be able to you know go with. So I, and Josh Mattelis, I think has shown that, you know, he isn't really that kind of player. Like I think Josh is still a very good player, but he's good in his role. I don't think he's good in that role to take over for Harrison Smith. So now you've got nothing there and you've got to look into the draft or in the free agency next year to try to solve that problem. So did I see the mistackle of Mackay Blackman? Now that one is that one they got right.

Mackay Blackman is not played well for Indianapolis at all. So that one they got right. They have not missed on every single thing. Still praying 78 says it seems like the Wilfs are letting fans run the team as much as you want to appease the fans. The bottom line is you're here to win a Super Bowl, not do what the fans want. I do think that this move in particular and I mean, I've had conversations about this. you know, with people. I think this move in particular had an element of it

that was all the way up to the top, which was they, the Wilf's love Adam Thielen, the organization loves Adam Thieland, and they should. I mean, this guy has been one of the best players that you could ever ask for from an undrafted free agent, one of the best stories in the NFL of the last decade.

I mean, a guy comes from, did you know that? He went to Mancato? know, I mean, but Detroit Lakes, so I think that that was part of it. I do think that that was part of it. I would say, though, that at the same time, and that's probably why the Panthers were able to hold out and get their price, but at the same time, he did have good numbers last year.

So it wasn't completely like a total fanboy move. It was, and I think I mentioned this, that if there was a player named Bob Johnson that had had 48 catches and whatever number of yards and the quarterback. had trusted him that you probably feel good about the move. So, you know, that it's, this is where like the hindsight element, but I also think we can't just keep going back to, well, if we knew at the time, because eventually the results are the things that matter. And that's why I always get irritated with people who say process over results. It's like, nah, they hire and fire you over the results.

It is your jobs to get the results right, more than you get them wrong. and what happened with this team is that they got the results right a lot of times and I think that they believed that they would just keep getting suboptimal moves to end up working out and it does make it massively worse that the Panthers are good it really does. It makes it massively worse that the Panthers are good

and they beat the Rams, the team that just beat the tar out of the Vikings last year and has been the cream of the crop in the NFL, my Super Bowl pick for a long time and they pulled off a crazy win against the Rams and then this happens everything coming up Panthers at the moment. So

you know this is where it is very hard though to separate and people ask about what is it this person's fault is it that person's fault when I mentioned like the from the top element of wanting Adam Thielen back

that everything this whole thing that's happened this year with all the moves that have gone sideways it's on everybody because they all get together and they all decide on a direction and that direction included going to a young quarterback and moving on from Darnold and it included you know just selling out on these moves to try to win right now in these next two seasons but the Thielen move was a very much win right the frick now when this year. In fact, it was actually a trade of a fourth round pick to win in a single moment, in a single section of games.

Like, they figured that the schedule was easier at the beginning and they had to get ahead. So they traded for a player for three games. I mean, again, suboptimal. Like, if it worked out, then yeah. But, I mean, from the very beginning, there's a really good chance that it doesn't. So anyway, I don't want to make this quite the marathon. But, yeah, Melkill, you're right. The Wilf's have five playoff wins in 20 years.

Well, that's another thing is that you keep, you know, going back to the bigger picture results on this regime. And it's been some fun regular seasons, but no playoff wins in four years. And a lot of wreckage to deal with. I mean, as we start looking at what they've got for the future here, now, I actually do like the chances that Ty Felton develops. But you look around, even at the wide receiver room, not that Thielen was going to be a big part of it, but Jordan Addison, with the suspension and with his performance this year, you certainly put in question about what his future is going to be. Justin Jefferson, we haven't talked about that much because I'm saving that for a whole show.

But with Justin Jefferson with the towel on his head yesterday, refusing to talk to the media after the game. I mean, there are so many fires to put out for this group. how can you, how can you do that all in one off season? And then the quarterback position, I was watching Dan Arlofsky this morning. And he's talking about, well, you know, in order to save Justin Jefferson in Minnesota, you have to go get Daniel Jones, who's a free agent, or Mack Jones from the 49ers, who they'd have to trade more capital for out of desperation. And he might be right.

And I think we're even at the point where if J.J. McCarthy comes back and plays well, you still have to do something like that. But that's where we're at right now. I mean, the Lions still have a good team. The Packers have a really good team. The Bears are on the rise. And you're talking about saving the franchise and saving the franchise player

by getting Mack Jones. That was the fan dual question of the day. The Vikings, one and a half point underdogs to a three and nine team. Is this the lowest point since when? And the answer is, in a really long time, uh, it is, it is moves like this, because I know a lot of you are bringing up, you know, is it possible that they make a, send somebody over the plank? It's when you have repeated moves that go sideways, you start to get into that area.

I'm not calling for it. I'm just saying the reality of the NFL is when you have a record like this and you're an underdog to a three and nine team and your superstar player is, you're infuriated every single week and your moves are going belly up constantly. Yep. Boy, things can change a lot in a year, can't they? Holy cow. I do want to say, again, before I just wrap up this emergency podcast, best of luck to Adam and his family, wherever they end up going.

Just one of the more high class players that you'll ever run into in a career for myself covering players. It was great to have him back, a familiar face and chat with them in the line. locker room. Unfortunately, it didn't, you know, work out for him. But, uh, I think somebody in the NFL will pick up Adam Thielen and he'll have a chance, uh, very likely to play in the playoffs because of whatever injury here or there and, uh, we'll be following them from afar once again. And I also don't think it's any sort of blemish on his record as a Minnesota Viking like, you know, with Randy Moss, it kind of was because it all went so miserably. In this case, his agent just went to

the team and said look you guys are four and seven four and eight now can you just let him get one more chance with somebody else that because he you know he hasn't won a super bowl he's been through some miserable seasons here so we'll see where he latches on if it ends up being green bay though that's oh that would talk about salt and there's been so much salt in the loons and they got a a mack truck pouring salt all over the wounds at this point with the panthers beating the rams if Thielen goes to, of all teams, I mean, would you be shocked if he went, if he went to the Rams, if they need, you know, a number three wide receiver behind Puka, Nakua and Devante Adams, I wouldn't, I wouldn't be shocked if he goes to any of these good teams. So anyway, there you go. So there's your emergency podcast. The Vikings release Adam Thielen, a sign of the times. So thanks everybody for watching slash listening. And we'll have another live show later on tonight with the round tape. table. Where do we go from here with the four and eight Minnesota Vikings? Thanks for watching and listening and we'll catch you all later on today. Football.