Panthers wide receiver Adam Thielen has prepared for a lot of games over the course of his NFL career, but this week is still an unusual one for the 10-year veteran.
The first nine years of Thielen’s career were spent with the Vikings, but he moved on to the Panthers this offseason after being released in a move that improved Minnesota’s salary cap situation. The Panthers play the Vikings this Sunday and Thielen said on Wednesday that it has been odd preparing to beat a team he helped win games for so long.
“It’s already honestly a little weird watching tape,” Thielen said, via Andrew Krammer of the Minneapolis Star Tribune. “It’s just crazy to be game planning against guys that were my teammates for a long time.”
Thielen said there’s “a little bit” of motivation to show the Vikings that they were wrong to let him go. Getting a win would also be a big step for the 0-3 Panthers’ bid for positive growth this season, so there shouldn’t be any lack of reasons to push a little harder heading into Sunday.
