The Minnesota Vikings need some wide receiver help, especially at the beginning of the regular season whenJordan Addison will be serving a three-game suspension. Plus, Jalen Nailor is dealing with a hand injury, andRondale Moore is out for the year. According to ESPN's Adam Schefter, the Vikings are calling about an old friend. Schefter reported Friday that Minnesota has inquired about trading for and reuniting with Carolina Panthers wide receiver Adam Thielen. Thielen, a 35-year-old Minnesota native, spent the first nine seasons of his career with the Vikings (2014-22), making two Pro Bowls in the process. In the two years since his Vikings tenure ended, he has enjoyed individual success in Carolina, where he's also served as an influential veteran voice in the Panthers' locker room, although the team has posted only a 7-27 record in that span. In 2023, Thielen pocketed the third 1,000-yard receiving season of his career. While rookie quarterback Bryce Young struggled during a tumultuous season that saw Frank Reichfired 11 games into his stay as head coach, Thielen proved to be a reliable target and vocal supporter for the 2023 No. 1 overall pick. That season, he caught 103 passes — the second most in his career — and tallied 1,014 receiving yards. Last year, Thielen missed time early in the season after suffering a hamstring injury in the first half of a Week 3 win over the Las Vegas Raiders. He sustained the injury while extending for one of his five touchdown grabs on the year. Thielen returned from the injured reserve list and still clocked out with 48 receptions and 615 receiving yards in 10 games, actually averaging more receiving yards per game in 2024 (61.5) than he did in 2023 (59.6). Thielen's continued NFL success in Carolina is the most recent chapter of his storybook pro career. After playing college ball at Division II Minnesota State, Thielen went undrafted in 2013. That year, he was a Vikings practice squad member. The following year, however, he made the 53-man roster and didn't leave it until he signed with the Panthers in free agency close to a decade later. Thielen's Pro Bowl seasons came in back-to-back years: 2017 and 2018. Earning second-team All-Pro honors in 2017 — a year in which Case Keenum stepped in and led the Vikings to the NFC championship game — Thielen reeled in 91 passes for 1,276 yards and four scores. In 2018, he piled up a career-high 113 grabs and 1,373 receiving yards, along with nine touchdowns. Thielen's top-two receiving touchdown totals arrived in 2020 and 2021, in other words the first two seasons of Justin Jefferson's Vikings career. Thielen pulled down 14 scores in 2020 and 10 more the next year.