The Denver Broncos continue to have a need at wide receiver. They have three receivers in Courtland Sutton, Tim Patrick, and K.J. Hamler who have had injury problems, including Sutton and Patrick both suffering torn ACLs. Hamler has had several different issues himself, including hamstring, which is obviously a huge concern. All of these concerns lead me to wondering if Adam Thielen could be in the team’s plans.
Thielen had been overshadowed by the presence of Justin Jefferson since the latter’s arrival to the Minnesota Vikings in the 2020 NFL Draft. While still productive for the Vikings to a degree, he carried almost a $20 million cap hit and that was the main reason for his release.
The #Vikings are releasing two-time Pro Bowl WR Adam Thielen today, per sources.
— Tom Pelissero (@TomPelissero) March 10, 2023
A onetime undrafted free agent from Minnesota State who went on to catch 55 touchdown passes for his hometown team, Thielen has plenty left in the tank at age 32 and wants to land with a contender. pic.twitter.com/FxsFP9z7MX
Broncos general manager George Paton was the assistant general manager with the Vikings when Thielen was signed as an undrafted free agent after the 2013 NFL Draft. As always, looking for any sort of connection like that is somewhat helpful and important when trying to connect the dots between trade candidates and free agents.
Though Thielen is 33-years old and closer to the end of his career than the beginning, the Broncos need a guy who can come in and potentially replace Sutton
Coming out of Minnesota State, Thielen ran the 40-yard dash at 4.49 seconds compared to Sutton’s 4.54. Take that for what it’s worth. At 33-years old, he’s certainly slowed down at least a little bit but he could essentially make for a perfect replacement for Sutton given that he’s a little tiny bit smaller and shiftier. He’s also been on the field fairly consistently.
Thielen has played every game for an entire season in six of his 10 seasons in the NFL. He’s only missed 10 games in 10 years, six games missed in 2019. Given his history with the Vikings, he could be a threat for opposing defenses. At the very minimum, he poses as a decoy for the team’s other wideouts but I think that he’d be much more than that.
The Broncos would first have to solve several questions: Does Sutton have a future with this team? If not, how much would he go for in a trade? How much money would Thielen demand at this point?
The Broncos can always shift money around if the cap gets tight, so I don’t see any issues here in terms of financials.
Broncos Country, would you like to see Adam Thielen go from purple and gold to orange and blue?