Former NFL players coming out of retirement is not unusual, and even before the new season has started, one former wide receiver openly admitted there’s a chance he could return. Players normally unretire after realizing they still have something left in the tank or when certain scenarios lure them out of retirement.
Former Minnesota Vikings wide receiver Adam Thielen recently discussed his future after retiring from the NFL last season, and he is open to making a return.
Adam Thielen Weighs In on Possibility of Returning to NFL
When you pour your life into catching passes, it’s understandable why it might be hard to do much else once you stop catching passes. Thielen retired in January after 13 years in the NFL, most of which he spent with the Vikings.
However, when asked whether he might unretire on the “Ross Tucker Football Podcast,” it sounds like he still has an itch to play.
“I’ll never say never,” Thielen said. “There’s definitely a chance that that happens, and I do come back. I will say that is a very, very small chance — 0.1% chance that actually happens.”
“I’ll never say NEVER…”@athielen19 discusses the possibility of coming out of retirement if he gets a call this season: pic.twitter.com/J33jTHSWYA
— Ross Tucker Podcast (@RossTuckerPod) April 14, 2026
While it’s not impossible that we see Thielen on an NFL field again, the two-time Pro Bowler has his reasons for retiring. What professional players put out on the field is only a fraction of the work that goes into making a living out of football.
“I think for a few reasons,” he explained why he retired. “I think, No. 1, if you ask, ‘How did I know it was time?’ I just felt like the last few years of my career, I was getting burned out — not of playing on Sundays — but of OTAs, training camp, the grind.”
With hundreds of wide receivers vying for spots on active NFL rosters, it takes an extremely driven mindset to make the cut. Thielen went undrafted in 2013 and had to claw his way onto the Vikings’ roster, where he ultimately booked two of his three 1,000-yard seasons. According to PFSN’s WR Impact Metric, he finished the 2024 season as the 12th-highest ranked wideout in the league with an impact score of 84.6.
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“I never just allowed myself to just ease in through OTAs, ease through training camps, and then turn on this switch and play on Sunday,” he said. “When I was on, I was on. If there was OTA practice, my speed, my attention to detail, my effort was the exact same that it would be on game day.”
From Thielen’s perspective, it seems as though the only thing that would lure him back to the pros is a very specific scenario, such as a team trying to load up ahead of the playoffs.
