Your post came across as glib to me whether you intended it that way or not. Even if he was only WR5 or 6 with Minnesota, Thielen was treated grossly unfairly even if a contending team picks him up and starts him or uses him as their third receiver, something I find borderline preposterous. And anyway that can't be the "sendoff" he wants. This is the Caste NFL we're talking about and if Thielen can't even be used as the fifth receiver on his home team, the one he starred for, no other team is suddenly going to consider using him heavily when he's been available all season. As always hope I'm wrong but I doubt it. Did you take some Pollyanna pills this morning?
Caste Football is about wanting to see White athletes get their due and the Vikings aren't giving Thielen his due. When Big Ben retired a few years ago he took a long, slow walk around the perimeter of the stadium, acknowledging the fans and shaking hands with many of them. It was his final game, everyone knew it, and he was treated appropriately. That's how stars should be treated, and Thielen has been exemplary not just on the field but in the community. I've also always liked his confidence as he didn't take anything from opponents during games, and likely did his best to lead by example in the "locker room."
Thielen isn't a future Hall of Famer like Big Ben, but he might have been if he had been treated fairly from the beginning. For example, if he had gotten a scholarship to Minnesota and then was drafted by the NFL in the third round like Eric Decker was (I don't recall if Decker was a walk-on or not) and hadn't had to serve a prolonged racial apprenticeship, he could well have finished with HofF credentials or close to it. Thielen has earned the right to a similar finale to his career, and that to me is the bigger issue, far more important than if he catches a few more passes with another team when everyone knows he's retiring.
He overcame tremendous hurdles to accomplish what he did. If the NFL was a "copycat" league when it comes to White excellence, the league would have many more "Adam Thielen types" but his journey, like that of other notable White "outliers," has been ignored for reasons we know all too well. Adam Thielen is a CF icon, one of the very best White receivers of his generation, and the Vikings aren't treating him right whether he plays again in his final season or not.
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