Adam Thielen caught just 16 of his 247 career receptions from Teddy Bridgewater, but the impact the former Vikings quarterback had on him goes far beyond statistics, Thielen says.

“I probably wouldn’t be the receiver I am today without him,” Thielen said Thursday.

After a year on the practice squad, Thielen’s first season as a Minnesota wide receiver was in 2014, when Bridgewater arrived as a first-round draft pick. Bridgewater was the starting quarterback for much of 2014 and throughout 2015, when Thielen caught 16 of his first 20 NFL passes from him.

Bridgewater suffered a severe knee injury and missed the entire 2016 season, when Thielen finally moved into the starting lineup. While still recovering, Bridgewater played just one game last season.

Bridgewater, now the backup to Drew Brees in New Orleans, returns to Minnesota for Sunday’s game against the Vikings at U.S. Bank Stadium.

“His impact really all of the years he was here was huge. … He kind of thought like a receiver, so it was really cool to have him as a quarterback that really thought like a receiver,” Thielen said.

Even last season, when Bridgewater’s only action was two series in a December blowout win over Cincinnati, Thielen said he provided valuable advice.

“So many times last year after a game he’d come up to me and say you could have done this better, you could have done that better,” Thielen said. “So many things that I wasn’t thinking about that he was thinking about. He’s a really special guy to me and I try to keep in touch with him as much as possible.”

Sam Bradford was the Vikings’ quarterback during Thielen’s breakout season in 2016, when he caught 68 passes for 967 yards. Last year, Thielen caught 91 passes for 1,276 yards with Case Keenum as the primary quarterback.

With Kirk Cousins behind center this season, Thielen has been even better, leading the NFL in receptions (67) and receiving yards (822).

In his early NFL seasons, Thielen said he spent “quite a bit” of time working with Bridgewater outside of practices.

“He had us (wide receivers) down to Miami (Bridgewater’s hometown) and out to Orlando, so there was a few times in the offseason that we spent time throwing, hanging out,” Thielen said. “Obviously, he’s a fun guy to be around, and he did a lot for me.”

Thielen has gone from mostly a special teams player when Bridgewater was the Vikings’ starter to one of the NFL’s top receivers. However, he reiterated Thursday there are still plenty of things he must work on, including blocking.

Thielen said he ‘wasn’t too happy with myself” at whiffing on a block in the second quarter of last week’s 37-17 victory over the New York Jets. Thielen said he got Stefon Diggs “killed on a bubble pass” that resulted in a 1-yard loss. Related Articles Vikings hope to have (some) fans back for Oct. 18 game against Atlanta

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When it came to catching the ball, Thielen tied Charlie Hennigan’s 1961 NFL record against the Jets with his seventh straight 100-yard game to begin a season. Thielen said he doesn’t care about that record.

Vikings tight end Kyle Rudolph said Thielen is pretty much the same guy who made the practice squad in 2013 and steadily worked his way up.

“The only thing I’ve really noticed is he’s got a much more expensive backpack now,” Rudolph said. “He used to have kind of a cheap backpack, but now he’s got a nice Louis Vuitton backpack. Adam’s just a guy that comes to work every day with the same mindset that’s he’s had since he came for rookie minicamp trying to prove himself.

“I don’t know that he’ll ever feel like he’s getting the respect that he deserves. He’ll just always have that chip on his shoulder, and each and every week he just goes out and tries to prove the opposing defense wrong and the rest of the country wrong.”