Today’s Best Bets
Sam Choudhury
Just over a week after his release from the Minnesota Vikings, veteran WR Adam Thielen found a new home Sunday with the Carolina Panthers, according to reports. The deal is for three years and $25 million.
Thielen, who will be 33 when Week 1 arrives, has seen his touchdown total drop from 14 in 2020 to 10 in 2021 to only 6 in 2022. He averaged 42.1 receiving yards per game in 2022, his lowest since 2019 and second lowest since he became a relevant member of the Vikings offense in 2016. Undrafted in 2014, Thielen is tied for 11th among active players with 55 career receiving scores.
In Carolina he joins a very empty offense in the wake of the trade that sent DJ Moore to Chicago for the first overall pick in April’s NFL Draft. After Thielen, the receiver room features Terrace Marshall, Laviska Shenault and Shi Smith, with fellow free agent signings TE Hayden Hurst and RB Miles Sanders also now in the fold. Of course, the upside for any member of this offense is going to depend largely on who the team selects at quarterback with that first overall pick and how he fares in Year 1. (Or, potentially, how free agent signing Andy Dalton does, if the rookie isn’t ready to start right away.)
Thielen brings a veteran presence and red-zone savvy to Carolina, but the upside he showed a few years ago — three top-10 PPR finishes in four years 2017-2020 — is almost certainly a thing of the past. Thielen’s touchdown upside should keep him relevant as a flex option with weekly spike possibilities in fantasy, especially if the team doesn’t add any more receivers to help spread the ball around, but it’s probably not worth spending a high draft pick on Adam Thielen in 2023.
