Adam Thielen, back in purple No. 19, is happy to be home with the Vikings after an ‘emotional’ wait

It’s difficult to tell who was more excited about Adam Thielen’s return to the Vikings: the 35-year-old veteran receiver or his 4-year-old daughter, Cora.

Thielen and his daughter starred in a viral video posted by his wife, Caitlin, on social media, showing Cora jumping up and down and she chanted with her father, “We’re going home! We’re going home!”

“That was pretty raw emotion,” Thielen said Thursday, one day after the Panthers traded him to the Vikings. “Because I had just found out. I’m a be-where-your-feet-are guy and, at that time, I was a Carolina Panther getting ready for practice and excited about what that looked like. So, just the raw emotion there with my daughter, who is a spitfire and has a lot of energy and excitement, was pretty cool and a memory I’ll never forget.”

Thielen, the Detroit Lakes native and Minnesota State Mankato product, hopes to create more lifelong memories in his purple No. 19, in which he’s already logged the third-most receptions (534) and receiving touchdowns (55) in Vikings franchise history over the first 10 years of his NFL career.

He arrives for his 13th NFL season to a Vikings offense in desperate need of his immediate help. No. 2 receiver Jordan Addison is suspended for the first three games and No. 3 receiver Jalen Nailor is nursing a left hand injury. Free-agent addition Rondale Moore suffered a season-ending knee injury in the preseason.

Those circumstances led to the Vikings prying Thielen away from the Panthers, where he remained a valued contributor for young quarterback Bryce Young. Thielen described an “emotional few days” for him and his family as Vikings General Manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah and Panthers General Manager Dan Morgan worked on a deal.

Adofo-Mensah eventually agreed to send two draft picks — a 2026 fifth-rounder and a 2027 fourth-rounder — for Thielen, a 2027 fifth, and a conditional 2026 seventh.

“That’s why it makes it so crazy,” Thielen said. “I just didn’t think that this was even a possibility. I thought the next time I would be talking to you guys was when I was signing a one-day contract and retiring. This is pretty surreal. I’m going to take advantage of every second I’m back in this building.”

“Because I knew there was a very realistic possibility that this would not happen,” he added.

Thielen, jubilant to return, long ago put away the frustration of getting cut after the 2022 season — coach Kevin O’Connell’s first in Minnesota. He previously told the Minnesota Star Tribune that he sent messages to O’Connell and Adofo-Mensah during the 2023 season to relay “no hard feelings.”

“You don’t ever forget impacts on you like one I had with Adam Thielen,” O’Connell said. “There’s so many things about him, it’s his energy every day — we felt it yesterday as soon as he arrived. It’s his love of football and his journey and what his journey specifically means to our organization and our fans, and I know how much he’s going to mean to our football team.”

Thielen knows the basics of the offense. He has also already caught passes from quarterback J.J. McCarthy.

“When we were working out there was no thought of ever actually playing together,” Thielen said. “So much respect for him, how he approaches the game — even in the summer months when he doesn’t really have to do those things. But just his work ethic, his mindset, his communication.”

One reason for Thielen’s excitement is a reunion with friend and all-world receiver Justin Jefferson. Thielen likened it to two old college buddies getting back together.

“Like it was just yesterday,” Thielen said. “It was like we’d never been on a different team.”

Thielen averaged about 60 yards per game over two seasons in Carolina, where he was the go-to target for Young. O’Connell said Thielen still has something left in the tank and could help the Vikings even after Addison returns from his suspension.

“There’s just some great tape of him doing all of the things that we’re going to need him to do for us,” O’Connell said.

Thielen described the last two years as a galvanizing experience for his family of five, leaving Minnesota for the first time to embark on their own in a new city. He said that they built strong connections in North Carolina, but that the time away also gave him new appreciation for returning home.

“So much growth and just a different perspective on life, on football, this organization, this city, this state, what it means to us,” Thielen said. “I’m going to make sure this emotion doesn’t just fade away.”