Former Viking Says Family Helps Impact His Career Decisions

For football fans, now that the NFL draft is over, it’s waiting season. We’re waiting for camp to start of course, but we’re also waiting and watching to see if there’s any more movement of teams signing or releasing players.

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This is the time of year we see a lot of events involving players raising money for their charities or participating in other charity events.

I wrote about such an event coming up later this month that has the interest of Minnesota Vikings fans for sure. This one involves Vikings Running Back CJ Ham and former Viking and current Carolina Panther Adam Thielen.

Speaking of Adam Thielen, he was participating at the Carolina Panthers Annual “Keep Pounding Day” event last week and was talking with the media.

You might remember that Thielen took some time once last season wrapped up to decide if he would continue to play and ultimately decided to do so.

He told the Charlotte media last week that one of the biggest driving forces in that decision was that his family wanted him to keep playing. Joe Person, who covers the Carolina Panthers, tweeted out the interview with Adam.

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Thielen and his wife Caitlin have three children now and being deeply involved in their lives seems to be very important to both parents. And the support of his family going through another grinding season was up there in importance with did he feel like playing another year.

Thielen has been very transparent about his career winding down and reinforced to the Charlotte media that he will go through the same process again after this season. Again, seeing where his family was in their development will be one of the most important aspects of Thielen's decision.

I know he doesn’t play for the Vikings anymore, but he is still a beloved Minnesota son, here’s hoping that Adam has one of the best years he’s ever had. Keep pounding Adam, keep pounding.