Adam Thielen’s slow start: What his role looks like with Jordan Addison back

Adam Thielen has only two catches for 26 yards in three games this season. He went without a catch in Week 1 against the Bears and in Week 3 against the Bengals. With Jordan Addison's three-game suspension over, what will Thielen's role be going forward?

Since becoming a full-time starter in 2016, Thielen has only have five games without a catch when he was targeted at least once.

• Sept. 21, 2025 vs. Cincinnati: 0 catches on 2 targets
• Sept. 8, 2025 vs. Chicago: 0 catches on 1 target
• Nov. 3, 2019 vs. Kansas City: 0 catches on 1 target
• Dec. 23, 2019 vs. Green Bay: 0 catches on 4 targets
• Dec. 8, 2016 vs. Indianapolis: 0 catches on 1 target

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One issue that is out of Thielen's control is the game flow. Against the Bengals, Minnesota built a 45-point lead and didn't need to throw the ball much in the second half. The end result was 24 pass attempts on a total of 58 offensive plays. Against the Falcons, Minnesota had just 21 pass attempts because they only ran 46 plays while Bijan Robinson and company controlled the clock for Atlanta. In the Chicago game, the Vikings only ran 49 plays and threw the ball 20 times.

Vikings coach Kevin O'Connell believes the return of Addison gives Minnesota an added dimension that will help open the offense for Justin Jefferson, Jalen Nailor and Thielen.

"He's been able to be in the building and be in meetings and things to stay sharp mentally. And so now, it'll just be getting him a full week of work," O'Connell said of Addison.

"And you look at the way Speedy (Jalen Nailor) has been consistently on tape, one of the guys that pops off the tape. I think Adam Thielen, although the targets and the reception numbers might not be there, has been wildly impactful in my mind, with some of the jobs we've asked him to do, run game, helping a little bit out on the edges here and there, and then, his opportunities will come."

O'Connell pointed out Monday that Thielen nearly made a touchdown catch when Carson Wentz lobbed a pass just out of his reach in the end zone against the Bengals.

"We almost had one early on in the game there, where Carson tried to find him, kind of off of a hard run action where he had to move up in the pocket — and we're going to have some ops like that to Adam throughout the year," O'Connell explained.

"And now, the way I look at it is, with Jordan back, we really have four starters at that receiver position, and we'll use those guys accordingly and try to keep people fresh and make sure we're maximizing the fact that we've got really good depth at that position."

For Thielen, it's been a whirlwind. He was traded from Carolina to Minnesota less than two weeks before the start of the regular season. It still hasn't been a month since the trade, so the pressure of adjusting to O'Connell's offense while being asked to be the No. 2 receiver has complicated the first month of the season, which he says is when teams are trying to iron out the wrinkles.

""I think at the end of the day, regardless of who was at quarterback, we're learning as an offense, as a team, as the play-callers — I think everyone's learning what we're going to be be. Even though you have your scheme, the first three, four, five weeks of the season you're really just trying to figure out what you do well, what we can lean on, what we're going to do when it's those really 'weighty' downs,' Thielen said in an interview with KFAN's Dan Barreiro on Monday.

"Once you get four, five, six weeks into the season, I think that's really when you really start to settle in as an offense and figure, 'OK, this is our identity,'" Thielen continued. "You have an idea of what you want that identity to look like, but it kind of shows itself over those five, six weeks."

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