Adam Thielen “Cautiously Optimistic” About Extension With Vikings

Blake Baratz, the agent for Vikings WR Adam Thielen, said during a recent radio interview with SKOR North that he’s “cautiously optimistic” about getting a potential contract extension for his client done this offseason.

“This team has a lot of really good things in place for it, and I know they want to take care of Adam and I know they want Adam there and I know they want to reward Adam,” Baratz said, via Courtney Cronin of ESPN.

“What exactly that looks like and when that happens, I can’t speak to yet, but I’m cautiously optimistic that everyone will come around and do the right thing.

“There’s not — no one’s being greedy. Everyone understands the situation and it’s really in their court. He has a couple of years left on his deal, but he’s earned a significant pay raise. Not to mention what he’s done on the field, he might be one of the best people in the entire National Football League and represents the city and the organization and state and frankly, the entire region unbelievably.”

Baratz added that Thielen isn’t someone who’s going to threaten to hold out for a new contract, even though he has clearly outplayed his current deal. 

“Adam’s not that type of person,” Baratz said. “I would never condone a player to hold out or be disruptive if it wasn’t for a very valid reason, and [what’s not] a valid reason, to me, is both sides working in good faith to come to a conclusion that makes sense for everybody.”

Mike Garafolo mentions that with two years still remaining on his contract, the Vikings and Thielen are going to have a “strike a balance between business and charity” to get something done. According to Garafolo, there’s no way Minnesota will simply rip up their current deal, especially if Thielen won’t hold out to press the issue.

Albert Breer suggests a three-year extension that includes market-value figures in the first three years of the deal and then moving the current money owed to the last two years of the deal to give the Vikings flexibility and a discount at the end.

Thielen, 28, wound up signing on with the Vikings as an undrafted free agent out of Minnesota State-Mankato back in 2013. He spent his rookie season the Vikings’ practice squad before returning to the team on a future/reserve contract the following year.

Minnesota brought Thielen back for the 2015 season on a one-year exclusive rights deal before signing him to a four-year, $19.240 million contract that included $11 million guaranteed in 2017. Thielen stands to make base salaries of $5.85 million and $5.35 million over the next two years of the agreement.

In 2018, Thielen appeared in all 16 games for the Vikings and caught 113 passes for 1,373 yards receiving and nine touchdowns.