Wild Theory Says Vikings Could Trade Kevin O’Connell
Approximately 53 weeks ago, a bizarre report before the Minnesota Vikings’ winner-take-all game against the Detroit Lions suggested Kevin O’Connell could be traded in the 2025 offseason. Wind the clock to January 2026, and the theory has been floated again, this time an idea that ships O’Connell to Buffalo and ends up in a Brian Flores promotion to head coach.
It’s a fun internet thing, yet Minnesota’s leverage and O’Connell’s setup make a move to the Bills an extreme longshot.
The hypothesis, sponsored by SI.com‘s Conor Orr, might take the cake for the most outlandish proposal of 2026, and the year is just three weeks old.
A Vikings Coach Trade Makes the Rounds
How about O’Connell to the Bills, they say.
SI.com: Why Not KOC to BUF, Flores to HC in MIN?
For starters, the Bills fired longtime head coach Sean McDermott this week. So, Orr got in his bag, predicting the outcomes of the league’s final coaching vacancies.
He wrote, “Do not rule out the exploration of a head coaching trade for Buffalo. I think this is something being bandied about in league circles — though to be clear, I am not reporting it as an inevitability or even a possibility. It would be immensely complicated and cost a talent-deprived Bills team more draft capital.”
“In my mind, the three best play-calling, offensive-minded head coaches who would be attainable via trade (meaning, there’s no way in hell the 49ers would trade Kyle Shanahan or the Rams would trade Sean McVay): the Vikings’ Kevin O’Connell, Panthers’ Dave Canales and Colts’ Shane Steichen.”
After the O’Connell mention, he raised the possibility of a Flores promotion in Minnesota: “And, again, we’re just playing on this playground, but how interesting would it be if you’re the Vikings and you simply promote Brian Flores to head coach and reap the draft capital from an O’Connell trade?”
Pure Madness as the Fallout
Make no mistake: an O’Connell trade anywhere would incite true pandemonium. While the 40-year-old has not won a playoff game in four seasons, he has commanded the Vikings to the NFL’s fifth-best winning percentage on his watch and won Coach of the Year in 2024.
Retaining Flores as the head coach would be a sweet consolation prize, and fans would warm up to it, but the optics of offloading the quarterback-whispering head coach to cook with Josh Allen in Buffalo would be off-the-charts chaos.
Former Bills offensive coordinator and New York Giants head coach Brian Daboll seems to be an early favorite to replace McDermott in Buffalo.
The Athletic‘s Joe Buscaglia wrote Tuesday, “Although this could be somewhat of a tough sell given Daboll’s track record as head coach with the Giants, there is no doubt that Allen loves him and became the quarterback he is today thanks in large part to him.
“The former Bills offensive coordinator understood what Allen needed from a playcalling perspective, and his unique game plans consistently helped set up Allen for success. One of the reasons McDermott endeared himself to the fan base over the years was how much he took to the city and region.”
Daboll flamed out in New York this season, leading to the Giants’ eventual hire of John Harbaugh.
Buscaglia continued, “He became a Buffalonian, and had a keen awareness of feeling what the fans felt. Of all the candidates, Daboll, who grew up in the Buffalo area and went to high school 10 minutes from the stadium, would be an easy sell.”
“For all of those reasons, Daboll, despite being fired by the Giants, could be a strong candidate to take over the head coaching job or return to Buffalo in some capacity, possibly as another head coach’s offensive coordinator.”
A Madden Video Game Viewpoint on the NFL
Spitballing an O’Connell trade anywhere, let alone to the Bills, is something from EA Sports’ Madden franchise, and truth be told, you can’t even trade coaches in Madden.
It’s the fantasy football edition of twirling coaches around the league. Coach trades are not common, and the most famous one was probably Jon Gruden to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers — about 25 years ago. Teams trade players regularly, not coaches.
Therefore, it’s next to impossible to discern what compensation the Vikings would even get for O’Connell. The New Orleans Saints received a 1st-, 2nd-, and 3rd-Round pick for Sean Payton to Denver in 2023. O’Connell, in theory, would live in a similar range.
A Real Verdict
Thankfully, a real verdict on the Bills’ next head coach isn’t too far away. The club should have the position filled in the next couple of weeks or soon after the Super Bowl at the latest.
According to oddsmakers, these are the frontrunners to seize the position:
- Brian Daboll
- Klint Kubiak
- Joe Brady
- Grant Udinski
- Ejiro Evero
- Anthony Weaver
- Nathan Scheelhaase
- Davis Webb
The Bills compiled the NFL’s second-best win percentage on McDermott’s watch, only trailing the Kansas City Chiefs, their most hated postseason rival.
The Vikings extended O’Connell’s contract for multiple years one year ago.
You must be logged in to post a comment.