PRIOR LAKE, Minn. — How would Adam Thielen approach the aftermath of a breakout season?

By getting back in the gym — the one he co-owns with longtime personal trainer Ryan Englebert — after a week of rest.

He said Friday during Polaris Vikings Winterfest that he has "big goals for next year."

"I want to get faster and stronger and work on the things I felt like I could work on," Thielen said during a session with reporters.

The receiver caught 69 passes for 967 yards and five touchdowns in 2016, roughly tripling his combined production of 2014-15. Stats, however, aren't how he plans to manage success in the future.

"I've never been a numbers guy because there's so many factors that lead into those things," Thielen said. "I've always been the type of person that my goals are based on how hard I'm working, if I feel like I'm in the best shape I can possibly be in and making sure that I'm busting my tail and doing everything that my trainer is asking me to do.

"I guess the biggest goal would be playing time," Thielen added. "The closest thing to a number goal that I have is, last year, it was being the number three to number two guy and getting those opportunities and seeing where it takes me. My goal is to be a starter, and I feel that I have the ability and have put up the film that proves I can do that in this league."

Thielen also spent part of his morning as a guest on KFAN's Power Trip and competed in front of a robust crowd on the show's weekly "Initials Game," which was won by Aj Mansour:

Position assessment

Captain Munnerlyn, who has played 47 of a possible 48 regular-season games in three years with the Vikings said he enjoyed hearing that Patriots Head Coach Bill Belichick was speaking recently about the importance of the nickel corner in the NFL.

"It's definitely important," Munnerlyn said. "To see Coach Belichick say that, I was pumping my fist, like, 'Yes!'

"They're realizing that it's a big position and you're playing nickel 80 percent of the game," Munnerlyn continued. "If teams game plan you, they might not do that and might try to keep a linebacker out there, but at the same time, this is a passing league. Everybody wants to throw the ball, everybody wants to see the scoreboard light up. I definitely hope the Vikings see that because we played it a lot. I hope they value my position and value my talent and bring me back."

Line on the mend

Fullback Zach Line had a procedure on his hip early this offseason that he described as "a little cleanup, nothing major."

Line said he's almost fully cleared. He made the trip from Michigan, where his wife is expecting their second daughter next month.

The physical player often has a gash on the bridge of his nose from his helmet during football season, but this time he had a different scar because the couple's 15-month old accidentally struck him while playing with a doll house. Line took both in stride.

"With the way the hip bugged me throughout the year, I knew I wanted to come into this year healthy and ready to roll, because if you have anything bugging you in this league, it's exploited," Line said. "Maybe it doesn't show up on game day, but you know you could do more. I think I had a good year, as far as blocking and all of that stuff. I'm definitely going to go into this offseason with the mindset of working on strength and speed, the blocking, but also having that ability to be versatile at all times."

Farewell, Stew'

Thielen also was asked about former Vikings receivers coach George Stewart, who has been hired as Chargers special teams coordinator.

"I think the best quality Coach Stew' has is he can relate to everybody and every situation," Thielen said. "There's not a lot of coaches in this league, that it doesn't matter where you came from, it doesn't matter who raised you, it doesn't matter what school you came from, he can relate to you and be a guy that is a mentor.

"I've learned a lot off the field from him and a ton on the field," Thielen added. "He's been around the league and coached a lot of really good receivers, and just explaining to us how they were successful and how he sees it that we can be successful. He was really good at keeping us motivated and becoming the best football players we can be."