“I’ve never gone through this process before, so the whole process was nuts,” Thielen said Monday on The Pat McAfee Show. “I wasn’t really planning on going to the Panthers. Went on a visit there just to hear them out because I wanted to go somewhere that I felt like I had an opportunity to win a Super Bowl. When I went there, I sat down with coach, I sat down with the GM … and I felt like Carolina was the place to do that. I feel like there is a real chance to win a Super Bowl, and that gets me excited.”

Thielen said he had talks with the Broncos, Cowboys and “a few” other teams.

“When they added Andy Dalton, that was a huge part to me going there, just knowing that veteran guy who’s played a lot of ball can really help groom and lead a team and a young quarterback that’ll be coming in. And then Miles Sanders, Hayden Hurst – I know they’re talking to a couple other receivers that could really help, ” said Thielen.

Thielen played nine seasons with his hometown Vikings, having grown up in Detroit Lakes in west-central Minnesota and then blossomed as a football star at Division-II Minnesota State University in Mankato.

“I’m a Vikings fan. I was born and raised a Vikings fan. Of course, I didn’t want to leave Minnesota and I would’ve loved to finish my career there,” said Thielen, “but I am really excited about a fresh start, a new opportunity and I can’t wait to get there.”

Adam Thielen has bold prediction about Panthers

Adam Thielen has a bold prediction about the Carolina Panthers.

Thielen on Sunday agreed to sign a three-year deal with the Panthers. Carolina has the No. 1 pick in the draft and they signed Andy Dalton at quarterback. They went 7-10 last season and still seem to be far away from being a contender, but that’s not how Thielen feels.

Thielen joined “The Pat McAfee Show” and talked about choosing to sign with Carolina. The veteran receiver said that at first his focus in free agency was to sign with a Super Bowl contender. He didn’t initially regard Carolina in that way, but they changed his mind.

“I wanted to go somewhere that I felt like I had an opportunity to win a Super Bowl. And when I went there … I felt like Carolina was the place to do that. I feel like there is a real chance to win a Super Bowl, and that gets me so excited,” Thielen said.

That’s pretty bold of Thielen to say that he thinks the Panthers have a real chance of winning a Super Bowl when they seem so far away. But you need new players, new coaches and a new attitude in order to make something like that happen, and the Panthers seem to have it.

Thielen said the presence of Dalton helped attract him, as well as the signings of Miles Sanders and Hayden Hurst.

“I couldn’t be more excited,” Thielen said of joining Carolina.

An undrafted player out of Minnesota State, Thielen became a big weapon with the Vikings. He made consecutive Pro Bowls in 2017-2018 and has caught 30 touchdowns over the last three seasons.

Carolina is betting that Thielen will be a big target for their new quarterback.