The Minnesota Vikings locked up wide receiver Adam Thielen to a new contract extension on Friday. According to an Instagram post from his representation, the deal is worth at least $64 million over four years and could top $70 million if Thielen attains incentives.
It’s a rich reward for one of the NFL’s better wideouts over the last couple of seasons. Thielen has caught 204 passes for 2,649 yards and 13 TDs since the beginning of the 2017 season.
The deal elevates Thielen’s per-year average above what the Browns will pay either Odell Beckham Jr. or Jarvis Landry. Beckham’s full deal of $90 million over five years is higher, but the New York Giants ate $20 million of that in a signing bonus. Beckham won’t cost the Browns any more after 2019 than Thielen will the Vikings.
Now that the Browns have swallowed Landry’s $7.5 million signing bonus, his average salary on his five-year, $75 million contract is lower than Thielen’s as well.
Beckham could be interested in a new deal with the Browns, though the wideout has downplayed that talk since he joined Cleveland in a trade last month.
