Pay the man: Vikings need to get Kevin O'Connell's contract extension done now
The coach has one season left on his contract and there has been a report that teams have considered trying to trade for him. It's an unnecessary distraction that should be dealt with immediately.
Jay Glazer surprised everyone the morning of Jan. 5 when he reported on FOX’s NFL pregame show that that multiple teams were considering trying to trade for Vikings coach Kevin O’Connell. This came hours before the Vikings were to play a huge Week 18 game against the Lions in Detroit.
Many Vikings fans accused Glazer of inventing this story, causing the veteran NFL information man to defend himself on a FOX podcast, and O’Connell was asked about it the next day.
Glazer has been dealing in NFL information for a long time and wouldn’t have a job if he was making up stories. His information came from someone with an agenda and you can bet it was good. Also, don’t be mad at Glazer.
The door for this opened during training camp when Vikings owner Mark Wilf said extension talks on O’Connell and general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah’s contracts wouldn’t take place until after the season. Both will be entering the last year of their contracts in 2025, but O’Connell’s situation is higher profile given his job.
Just as the Vikings opened the door by putting off extension talks with O’Connell, they can now quickly close it by giving him a multiyear contract that will pay far more than the estimated $5 million per season he has been making.
Why should owners Zygi and Mark Wilf be in a hurry to get this done? Because there’s no reason not to.
The fact the owners wanted to have O’Connell coach through the penultimate season of his contract makes sense. He went 13-4 and led the Vikings to the playoffs in 2022, and then oversaw a disappointing 7-10 finish in 2023 during a season filled with quarterback upheaval.
If the Wilfs wanted another season to make sure they got the coaching hire right, they got their answer. O’Connell took a team expected to win fewer than seven games and led them to a 14-3 record, while turning Sam Darnold into a Pro Bowl quarterback and making himself a leading candidate for NFL coach of the year.
The most impressive thing O’Connell did was dealing with the July death of draft pick Khyree Jackson. Jackson was killed in a car accident in Maryland less than a month before training camp and had been at the Vikings’ offseason camps. The tragedy is something that easily could have derailed the season, but O’Connell made sure the grief felt by players and staff wasn’t suppressed. Jackson’s memory became an important part of the Vikings’ season.
No, I haven’t forgotten how the Vikings’ season came to an end and O’Connell doesn’t escape blame for that. The day of Glazer’s report, the Vikings had a chance to win the NFC North and get the top seed in the conference with a victory in Detroit. Instead, Darnold melted down in a 31-9 loss, meaning the Lions received a bye in the first round of the playoffs.
Things didn’t improve on Monday night as Darnold struggled in a 27-9 loss to the Rams in the wild card round. O’Connell’s play calling and ability to adjust to what the Rams did to his offense also was lacking. That dropped O’Connell to 0-2 in the postseason.
O’Connell, however, is 34-17 in his three seasons and his .667 regular-season wining percent is the best of any coach in franchise history, surpassing Bud Grant’s .621 percentage. He has proven to be the breath of fresh air the Wilfs wanted when they fired Mike Zimmer after the 2021 season.
O’Connell has the Vikings on the right track as they enter a very important offseason. The team is likely to be turning over its starting quarterback job to 2024 first-round pick J.J. McCarthy, and right now has the NFL’s sixth-most effective salary cap space for 2025 at $57.3 million, according to the Over The Cap website.