Amid the seemingly endless media soiree in New Orleans for the Super Bowl, Carolina Panthers quarterback Bryce Young learned he will get his top wide receiver back.
“It’s huge,” Young told Panthers.com on Thursday. “I mean, obviously … what he’s meant for us these last few years, you see it on the field, but not just on the field. In the locker room, the professionalism, the leadership that he brings, I mean how consistent he’s been.”
“There aren’t enough words to say how much he’s meant to us, so I mean, I’m crazy excited. But yeah, it means a ton,” Young added.
Carolina invested in Young with the No. 1 pick in the 2023 NFL Draft, but his first season looked shaky with 11 touchdowns versus 10 interceptions. His second season included a benching, but he came back and finished strong as he threw for 2,403 yards and 15 touchdowns versus nine picks in just 14 games.
Thielen played a big role in that with his team-best 615 yards and five touchdowns on 48 catches. He admitted he was close to retirement right after the regular season despite his high level of play.
But his teammates didn’t know how close.
“I don’t think anyone does other than my family,” Thielen told Panthers.com. “To prove that, I mean my entire family came to my last game of the season last year because I kind of told them at that point this could be it. I was pretty exhausted, I think I’m to that point where I’m in the middle of the road, like a big part of me wants to keep playing and giving everything I got.
“And a big part of me is like I’m ready to move on and spend more time with my family and move on to the second career,” he added. “But again, once I make that mindset of like, all right, I’m doing this, it’s all in.”
Thielen would have retired with one year left on his three-year, $25 million deal. He spent the first nine years of his career with the Minnesota Vikings, where he signed as an undrafted free agent in 2014 out of Division II Minnesota State-Mankato.
“I had said after the season, like I just need two weeks to really think about it,” Thielen said. “And then once I make that decision I’m like, I’m going to do one more year. Then that’s my mindset, and here we go. I didn’t want to be wishy-washy, like maybe, maybe not.
“So whether it was a yes or a no, I just wanted to know so I can attack my offseason,” he added.
Thielen can also help the Panthers build on a strong finish to 2024 with two overtime wins in the final three weeks of the season. The Panthers have the No. 8 pick in the draft and a little bit of salary cap space to work with at $22.65 million.
“I would say … that was 95 percent of the reason for wanting to play again,” he said. “Because when you’re part of something, I always said the reason I came to Carolina in the first place was I wanted to be part of building something.”
Carolina was mired in four straight losing seasons when Thielen arrived, and the Panthers slipped to 2–15 in 2023 amid a second straight year of midseason coaching changes. First-year Panthers head coach Dave Canales navigated the instability in 2024 as the team improved to 5–12.
“So if that wasn’t being built and I didn’t see that it was progressing and going in the right direction, it would have been a lot easier to be like, all right, I’m ready to move on and start the next part of my life,” Thielen said. “But when you start to see that progression, I would hate to be part of building and then not be a part of the next step. So hopefully things keep progressing, and I can be a part of the end of the building process.”
