Story by BEN GOESSLING • ben.goessling@startribune.com | Photo by JEFF WHEELER • jwheeler@startribune.com
There are moments, in Adam Thielen's dizzying climb from overlooked prospect to practice squad player to special teams standout to Pro Bowler, that the Vikings wide receiver will allow himself to peer over the edge of the mountain and think back to how easy it could have been for none of this to happen.
"When I look back at it, I'm actually more nervous now than I was in the moment [at the Vikings' 2013 rookie camp], " Thielen said. "Now I realize, [if] two plays [go] differently — I drop a ball instead of making a diving catch or something like that — I don't get the opportunity.