Pot Once Again Stirred in Kevin O’Connell Rumor Mill
Minnesota Vikings head coach Kevin O’Connell’s current contract is scheduled to run out at the end of next season — 2025, not 2024.
Pot Once Again Stirred in Kevin O’Connell Rumor Mill
The franchise is emphatically not late to the party in extending O’Connell, but that doesn’t prevent incessant questions about why it’s taking so long.
For starters, on the morning of the Vikings winner-take-all Week 18 for homefield advantage in the playoffs, FOX Sports Jay Glazer claimed multiple teams wanted to trade for O’Connell, with the league’s coaching carousel right around the bend.
Glazer said multiple teams were calling about O’Connell, even if the young skipper wasn’t for sale. Coach trades are rare in the business, although the Denver Broncos acquired Sean Payton from the New Orleans Saints in 2023 for a considerable haul, including a 1st-Round draft pick.
“There’s one candidate out there that’s going to surprise you all, that no one knows is on lists, and he is. There are multiple teams that actually are considering trying to trade for Kevin O’Connell,” Glazer said.
“Maybe the Vikings don’t let it happen. But also Kevin O’Connell kind of has the card saying, ‘Hey, listen, I’m not going to re-sign there so you might as well get something for me’. Now, I don’t know because, obviously, I don’t think Kevin knows about this right now. But there are multiple teams who have them on that board to say, ‘Let’s at least try and see if we can trade,” Glazer added.
Predictably, reporters asked O’Connell about the rumors on Monday following his team’s loss at Detroit. He appeared aware of the Glazer report and replied, “I’m not really interested in addressing the rumors or the speculation. What I can tell you is I love this team. I love everything about this organization. This is where I want to be. This is where I want to keep coaching and leading.”
Fast forward to this week, and Pro Football Talk‘s Mike Florio stirred the pot on O’Connell’s would-be extension in an article titled: One week later, no news on a Kevin O’Connell extension.
“If O’Connell will decline whatever he’s offered and embrace lame-duck status, the Vikings will face the prospect of seeing him walk away after the coming season without compensation. If an impasse is reached sooner than later, the Vikings can explore the possibility of trading O’Connell,” Florio wrote Tuesday.
No credible intel — inside or outside the Vikings’ organization — has suggested the club is willing to let O’Connell leave. The only source is Florio’s what-if speculation.
“If there was tension in the relationship before Week 18 (and there was), the question becomes whether and to what extent Glazer’s report complicates the situation,” Florio continued. “The Vikings, who went from 14-2 to 0-2 in the eight days after the report emerged, might not be happy that the report surfaced. O’Connell, who was compelled to finish his third year (and become the first coach in team history to win 13 games in multiple seasons), will want even more than he should have/would have wanted a year ago, especially if the Bears are indeed paying Ben Johnson $13 million per year.”
O’Connell has been vaunted as a “quarterback whisperer” in recent seasons, unleashing the best from passers like Joshua Dobbs, Nick Mullens, and Sam Darnold when injuries arose. The Vikings also have the NFL’s sixth-best record on his watch.
Florio concluded, “For now, the question remains whether he and the Vikings will work out a long-term deal. If it’s not to be, the sooner the Vikings know, the sooner they can entertain swapping one more season with O’Connell for whatever one of the teams currently looking for a coach might offer.”
If the Vikings had planned to trade O’Connell — they didn’t — the ownership group would’ve done so before the coaching carousel began spinning.
O’Connell will soon lock in his extension, and the wacky rumors can be done. The same thing happened with fake Justin Jefferson trade rumors one year ago.
Nothing about O’Connell’s extension is late right now. Not a single thing. If the team doesn’t have a deal by early September, then all bets are off.
Dustin Baker is a political scientist who graduated from the University of Minnesota in 2007. Subscribe to his daily YouTube Channel, VikesNow. The show features guests, analysis, and opinion on all things related to the purple team, with 4-7 episodes per week. His MIN obsession dates back to 1996. Listed guilty pleasures: Peanut Butter Ice Cream, ‘The Sopranos,’ Basset Hounds, and The Doors (the band). He follows the NBA as closely as the NFL.
All statistics provided by Pro Football Reference / Stathead; all contractual information provided by OverTheCap.com.
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