Adam Thielen, C.J. Ham sign retirement deals with Vikings

Player mentions

Article text

A pair of longtime Vikings returned to the team's facility on Friday to sign one-day retirement contracts. Receiver Adam Thielen and fullback C.J. Ham are now officially Vikings for life. Thielen, a Minnesota native who played at Minnesota State University in Mankato (where the Vikings used to conduct training camp), earned his spot on the team as an undrafted tryout player in 2013. He wasn't even invited to the Scouting Combine. By 2014, he had a roster spot. (That year, he blocked a punt against the Panthers and returned it for a touchdown.) By 2016, he had nearly 1,000 receiving yards. The following year, he made the Pro Bowl and landed on the All-Pro second team. In 2018, he started the season with eight straight 100-yard receiving games, matching Hall of Famer Calvin Johnson's record. Thielen left for the Panthers in 2023 as a free agent. In 2025, the Panthers traded him back to the Vikings. He eventually asked for his release, so that he could sign with a contender. He finished his career with the Steelers. Ham was undrafted in 2016, after playing college football at Augustana. He caught the eye of former Vikings assistant Kevin Stefanski at the University of Minnesota's pro day workout. "I'm putting the Gophers running backs through some individual drills," Stefanski told Vikings.com, "and there's one kid who's just staring me right in the eyes, doing it exactly how it needs to be done, doing it with maximum effort. And I said, ' Who’s that kid? '" It got Ham an invitation to the Vikings' rookie minicamp and, like Thielen, Ham earned his spot. He spent 10 years with the Vikings. He arrived as a running back; in 2017, he moved to fullback at the urging of former Vikings running backs coach Kennedy Polamalu. "I told him, 'I've been blessed to coach guys who played 10 years or more,' " Polamalu told Vikings.com. "He looked at me and said, '10 years?' 'Yep. But you've gotta promise me now, if I move you, you've gotta give me 10 years.'" He did. At a time when so much attention will be paid to the names landing in round one of the various mock drafts, it's important to remember two things. Plenty of those guys won't last. And some of the guys no one is talking about will. Thielen and Ham are two clear examples of that.