Minnesota is all Adam Thielen really knew. He grew up there, went to D-II Minnesota State, and then spent the first ten years of his NFL career with the Vikings.
He always imagined retiring as a Viking, but after not agreeing on a contract restructure, the Vikings decided to release him and for a minute, Thielen said there was some thought of that being the end of his career.
Even with those thoughts, he knew he had a lot more to give to the game both on and off the field, and for the first time in his life, he moved out of Minnesota after finding a new home with the Carolina Panthers.
Tomorrow afternoon, he'll get to hang out with a lot of his old Minnesota buddies when the Panthers host the Vikings at Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte.
"I've been thinking about that since the schedule came out," Thielen said when asked about the emotions that will come with this game. "Was I excited that I get to play against Minnesota? Yeah, but I'm just trying to treat it like another football game. I'm going to take advantage of pregame to be able to go and say what's up to everybody throughout the organization. Shoot, I was there for ten years, so a lot of relationships that I've built that are strong relationships. I'm excited to go and see those people say hello, thank them, and tell them how much I appreciate them.
"It's going to be interesting. It's already been a little bit weird, honestly. Starting to gameplan, talking about the defense, and then seeing them on tape. I've never obviously game-planned for our defense. Or the Vikings' defense, I should say. It's definitely different and it's just football."
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