Adam Thielen Enjoying Opportunity to Help Young Receivers

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Mar 19, 2019
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Thielen, who made the team's practice squad as a tryout player in 2013 and cracked the roster in 2014, understands more than anyone the value that July and August can have for anyone vying for coveted roster spots. But he also understands that football isn't a game that allows for excuses.


"If this was the year that I came out, I wouldn't even be here. I'd have no chance – I wouldn't have even had an opportunity," Thielen said. "But at the end of the day, these guys that are in here right now, these rookies that are maybe drafted late or drafted early, they just have to take advantage of what's given to them."


He pointed to the silver lining of an all-virtual offseason program.


"Man, those guys have had more reps mentally than I probably had in my first couple years, total," Thielen said. "So if they were able to take advantage of that time, we'll be able to see that on Sundays, as well."


Thielen noted that the rookies have gone through installations of Minnesota's offense "probably six or seven times" in a classroom setting before hitting the fields at Twin Cities Orthopedics Performance Center.


"If they can take advantage of that and just be able to go out there and play ball and really show what they can do, [it will show up]," he said. "Where a lot of guys fall off and don't have the success that they should is they can't go out there and play fast because they don't know the playbook, so they're spending most of their time trying to figure out, 'Oh shoot, what do I have?,' rather than just, 'This is what I'm going to do, how I'm going to beat them, attack them,' things like that, so I think they're in a great position right now.


"I've been able to watch their practices the last few days, and it's really exciting to see them compete and have fun doing it," Thielen added.
 
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