Word of a potential trade involving wide receiver Adam Thielen was swirling for a while before the Panthers pulled the trigger on a deal sending him back to the Vikings on Wednesday.
The move made a lot of sense for a Vikings team short on early-season certainty at wideout behind Justin Jefferson and it showed that the Panthers have faith in a young receiving corps after spending first-round picks on receivers the last two seasons. Panthers head coach Dave Canales said on Wednesday that he has confidence in those picks — Xavier Legette and Tetairoa McMillan — and others to fill the offense while noting that the trade gives those players a chance to show they are capable of being Bryce Young’s go-to guy on the biggest plays.
“Adam makes plays,” Canales said, via the team’s website. “He consistently did that for his career, and certainly last year, at the end of the season, when he came back to us, he made plays. And so this is just an opportunity for guys to be there, and to be available for Bryce, whether it’s on a critical third down or whether it’s to win the game, you know, these are incredible opportunities for them.”
It’s far from the first time that a team has moved a proven veteran in order to give younger players a chance to step up. Results have been mixed in other cases and the Panthers need this bet to pay off to continue building on the growth they showed to close out 2024.
