While in Canada for a fishing trip, Josh Herzog drove past the Winnipeg Blue Bombers' stadium. He pulled out his flip phone, snapped a picture and started pecking a text message to his best friend from high school, from back in Detroit Lakes, Minn.

Herzog had played sports with Adam Thielen since they were little kids; he would one day be the best man in Thielen's wedding. Herzog had watched how Thielen had sprouted a couple of inches since high school, how he'd gotten faster, how he'd started to pile up gaudy receiving stats at Division II Minnesota State. Thielen's dreams had expanded, and now Herzog wanted to send him a slice of encouragement.

"You could be playing here someday," Herzog wrote, with the picture of the Canadian Football Leaguestadium attached.

"Bro, that would be awesome," Thielen replied.

In the years since playing in the CFL seemed audacious, Thielen has advanced further than anyone imagined. After high school, he received his only scholarship - for $500 and books from a Division II school - at the 11th hour. After college, he gained notice at a regional combine he paid $250 to get into. After his first NFL training camp, Thielen passed through waivers and joined the Minnesota Vikings' practice squad. And after five years in the NFL, the lanky kid from Detroit Lakes has morphed into one of the best football players in the world.

Once unknown and undrafted, Thielen, 28, is a reigning Pro Bowler still on the ascent. The $27 million contract he signed last year now counts