In his first press conference as the head coach of the Minnesota Vikings, what did we learn about Kevin O’Connell and his vision for the franchise moving forward?
Along with Minnesota Vikings general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah by his side, Kevin O’Connell entered the doors to the team’s indoor practice facility at the TCO Performance Center for the first day of the rest of his life.
O’Connell began his inaugural press conference as the head coach of the Vikings by thanking all of the people who helped him land this amazing opportunity.
After expressing his gratitude, Minnesota‘s new head coach went on to share his plan to lead the franchise to the trophy that his last employer was just able to capture.
O’Connell is only 36-years-old, but it’s not difficult to understand how is his age or lack of head-coaching experience didn’t get in the way of him being able to convince the Vikings to hire him. His overtly-positive attitude is infectious and one should expect the vibe inside Minnesota’s locker room to be drastically different from when Mike Zimmer was in charge.
We learned a lot about O’Connell on Thursday, but what were some of the biggest takeaways from his first press conference as the head coach of the Vikings?
Kirk Cousins is under contract
It didn’t take very long for Kevin O’Connell to be asked about what his plan for Kirk Cousins is going to be moving forward.
When asked if he can say Cousins will definitely be the starting quarterback for the Vikings during the 2022 season, O’Connell responded by giving the following answer.
"“Well, I know he’s under contract, and I’m excited to coach him. We’ve already started thinking about how we’re going to build those systems for him, and our other quarterbacks, and really the tremendous skill group that we have, our guys up front. It takes all 11 to move the football on offense, to run it, to throw it, to score points in the red zone. But I’m anticipating Kirk being a part of what we do.”"
If someone were to ask your boss about your job status, and your boss responded by saying “I know he’s under contract,” would that make you feel good about your future with your current employer?
Probably not, right?
Yes, O’Connell has a history with Cousins, and while that was certainly a factor in Minnesota hiring him, he’s also someone who seems prepared to work with whoever will be starting under center for the team next season.
Will that end up being Cousins? Well, “he’s under contract,” with the Vikings right now. So until he’s no longer on the roster, he’s the guy that Minnesota will keep at the top of their quarterback depth chart.
Barr possibly returning in 2022?
Following the conclusion of Minnesota’s final game of the 2021 season, most assumed that Anthony Barr‘s time in purple had come to an end. Barr even shared some posts on his Instagram account that seemed to indicate he was saying goodbye to the Vikings.
But when talking about some of Minnesota’s top players on the defensive side of the ball, Kevin O’Connell included Barr in his discussion.
O’Connell mentioned how Barr and fellow Vikings linebacker Eric Kendricks have caused “huge issues,” for opposing offenses around the NFL for the last handful of years.
Harrison Smith was the only other Vikings defender who O’Connell mentioned on Thursday in addition to Barr and Kendricks. Could this be a sign that Minnesota’s new head coach wants to keep the team’s longtime linebacker duo intact for the 2022 season?
This might just be reading too much into it. But it’s just interesting that O’Connell mentioned Barr when speaking about the defense and not a certain Pro Bowl defensive end that we’ll talk about later.
O’Connell will call the offensive plays
During Mike Zimmer’s eight seasons as the Vikings head coach, the team’s offense had a total of six different play-callers. Even though the schemes were similar with the last few play-callers, the constant revolving door of offensive decision-makers made it difficult for the unit to utilize any sort of continuity to their advantage.
That problem should be solved now, at least on the offensive side of the ball, with Kevin O’Connell as Minnesota’s head coach.
On Thursday, O’Connell revealed that he will be calling the plays for the offense during the 2022 campaign. So for the first time since 2015, the Vikings have the opportunity to open two consecutive seasons with the same offensive play-caller.
With the most successful teams in the NFL during the last few years being led by strong offenses, Minnesota is hoping that by bringing in O’Connell and placing a greater emphasis on the offensive side of the ball, they too, will experience a great amount of success.
Vikings will have a player-friendly environment
After the Vikings eventually decided to fire Mike Zimmer in January, reports began to circulate about some of the most toxic aspects of the franchise during the last few years.
Everyone knew Zimmer’s approach to coaching featured some brash methods, but the culture and environment that his style created proved to just get in the way of Minnesota achieving any sort of legitimate success during the last two seasons.
In walks Kevin O’Connell, who might actually be the polar opposite of Zimmer. O’Connell grew up in Southern California, an area of the country known for being a little more laid back than the rest.
This isn’t to say that the Vikings’ new head coach isn’t going to demand a lot out of his players. He’s just going to utilize more positive methods to get the most out of Minnesota’s roster and not methods that are meant to instill fear into his players that the previous head coach used.
The days of NFL head coaches having expletive-laden tirades on the sidelines are dwindling as more and more players tune out this type of so-called leadership. The new breed of head coaches around the league are able to get the most out of their players without having to scream into their souls, and O’Connell is part of this new group.
Hunter left out of the discussion
We mentioned earlier about Kevin O’Connell bringing up Anthony Barr when he spoke about Minnesota’s top defenders.
Interestingly enough, O’Connell didn’t spend any of his time behind the microphone on Thursday talking about Vikings defensive end Danielle Hunter.
Was this done purposefully by Minnesota’s new head coach? Have the Vikings already made a decision about Hunter’s future with the franchise?
When he’s on the field, Hunter is one of the most dominant defensive ends in the NFL. However, he’s only managed to appear in a total of seven games during the last two seasons due to injury.
Is Minnesota’s new regime looking at Hunter’s last two years as something that could be more of the norm and not just bad luck? If so, then O’Connell talking about the future of the Vikings without mentioning the Pro Bowl defensive end certainly wasn’t a mistake.
Vikings will compete in 2022 no matter what
During his press conference on Thursday, Kevin O’Connell didn’t sound like someone who is joining a team that is about to tank and completely rebuild their roster.
Instead, O’Connell raved about the playmakers that are already on the Vikings’ roster and how the team isn’t very far from competing at the highest level.
We can assume that Minnesota’s new head coach knows some major roster changes could be on the horizon. However, it sounds like O’Connell will still be trying to get the Vikings to win as many games as they possibly can next season, regardless of how much talent they have on the field.
The dream for Minnesota would be to probably figure out a way to emerge as a contender in the NFC and to plan for the future at the same time. But there’s no guarantee that this will be the outcome of the 2022 season for the Vikings with a rookie head coach leading the way.
What can be guaranteed is that O’Connell is going to take whatever players he’s handed this year and do his best to get the most out of them next season.