Adam Thielen: It doesn’t matter how long you’ve played, you always have to prove yourself

There are plenty of unknowns about the Panthers heading into the 2024 season.

Carolina is coming off a 2-15 season with a first-time head coach, several new acquisitions on both sides of the ball and quarterback Bryce Young hoping to show his rookie struggles were a minor bump on the way to success. Given all of those question marks, one of the surer things in the organization would seem to be wide receiver Adam Thielen.

Thielen is heading into his 11th NFL season and he showed he could still produce in a struggling offense by catching 103 balls last year. That doesn’t mean he is heading into the coming season with a sense that he’s fully proven himself, though.

“I think I talk to the young guys about this all the time, is no matter who you are, no matter how old you are, no matter how many years you’ve been in the league, you have something to prove,” Thielen said, via Darin Gantt of the team’s website. “And you have to have that mindset every single day, whether it’s OTAs when no one’s watching other than the coaches, or on Sundays when 60,000 people are watching, you have to have that same mindset that you’re going to prove that you can play at a high level. And, you know, it doesn’t change no matter how many years. When you’re in years 10, 11, 12, you have to go out there and prove it, right?”

The Panthers are likely confident about what they can expect from Thielen this fall and they can only hope that his approach rubs off on less-experienced players who are hoping to have the same kind of professional success as the wideout.