Vikings news: WR Adam Thielen preaches comfort in 'identity' with team's offense

Minnesota Vikings wide receiver Adam Thielen preaches comfort in "identity" with his team's new offense that figures to run the ball.

The Minnesota Vikings have spent their fair share of time running through offensive coordinators to build a stable identity for the offense. In 2019, they'll have Kevin Stefanski calling plays with Gary Kubiak — an outside zone centric coach — playing a major role in the gameplan and playbook building.

For receivers Adam Thielen and Stefon Diggs, the addition of Kubiak and Stefanski (as the full-time offensive coordinator) may mean fewer targets, due to both coaches enjoying to run the ball.

For Thielen, he's comfortable in that system, because they have an identity — rather than John DeFillipo's pass-heavy, often struggling, offense.

“I think that’s a reason we feel so comfortable in this system: We know our identity. We know who we are,” Thielen said, via Star Tribune‘s Ben Goessling. “That doesn’t mean we’re going to be great at it — it doesn’t mean we’re going to be bad at it. But at least we can go into the season knowing what our identity is, what our offense is going to look like on Sundays. Now, we have to go execute it.”

The Vikings figure to be run-heavy, or at least more so than in 2018. However, quarterback Kirk Cousins will still find his playmaker in the two-time Pro Bowler Thielen, as he says:

“As far as a teammate and a player, and just the whole package, he’s probably as good as anybody I’ve ever been around. He’s a hard worker. He’s a lot of fun; he’s got a great personality. He doesn’t really have a weakness as a receiver. I trust him to run by people, I trust him to snap it down and have good agility and create separation. I trust him to catch tough catches, to run routes with discipline and detail. I trust him to catch screens and execute those well. He runs jet sweeps well, like a running back. He blocks in the run game. Every route in the route tree, he does well.”