The Minnesota Vikings will have plenty of important decisions to make when it comes to the future of the franchise. One of the most immediate will be whether to extend Brian O’Neill. An eight-year veteran and respected leader in the locker room, O’Neill feels like a priority as he enters the final season of his contract. But set to turn 31 in September, there’s a debate about whether extending O’Neill is the right choice.
It’s an interesting conversation to have on social media and could pick up if the Vikings have a rough start ahead of next year’s trade deadline. But ESPN’s Kevin Siefert made the franchise’s feelings on O’Neill clear and indicated they’ll be making an effort to lock up their long-time captain soon.
“Coach Kevin O’Connell has repeatedly referenced his reliance on O’Neill as a leader, and there is near-universal agreement within the organization that it should pursue a contract extension. The terms and duration merit debate, as the Vikings signed an intriguing tackle in restricted free agency (Ryan Van Demark) and also used a third-round pick on Northwestern tackle Caleb Tiernan.”
The Minnesota Vikings have plenty of reasons to extend offensive tackle Brian O’Neill
Siefert’s comments do not guarantee that O’Neill will get an extension, but it confirms the two sides will at least have negotiations. A second-round pick in the 2018 NFL Draft, O’Neill has appeared in 124 games and started 120 games for the Vikings since coming out of Pittsburgh and is a key component to the Vikings' offense along with left tackle Christian Darrisaw.
In addition, O’Neill’s age may not be as big a concern. Purple Insider’s Matthew Coller pointed out that several other offensive tackles have bucked the age curve in the NFL, and signing O’Neill could be one of the first moves Nolan Teasley makes as the team’s new general manager.
“It would be a big move to sign Brian O’Neill to a contract extension. I also think it would be kind of an obvious move,” Coller said on the latest episode of The Viking Age podcast. “I mean, yes, he is in his 30s and as soon as someone hits their 30s we go, ‘Oh, he’s close to death.’ But that’s not really true with offensive tackles.
“Lane Johnson is one of them, Trent Williams, Jason Peters…you could say O’Neill’s not quite on that level but he’s pretty darn close. I mean, he’s a top 10 or 15 player in the league at that position. Those guys usually tend to have really good track records, even if the healthy isn’t perfect, still usually going into their early 30s, those guys are good. So if you sign him to a four-year contract extension, that’s really about a three-year extension, you need offensive tackle play.”
Price and term could be two things that make a new contract difficult, but the Vikings may already have a good idea of what to spend. A four-year contract would have O’Neill in Minnesota through his age-35 season, and teams have found ways to kick additional money down the road in case his play slips. Spotrac also gives O’Neill a market projection of $21.1 million per season, which can be met with a low cap hit to save some of their $40 million in cap space for 2027.
The other reason to extend O’Neill is that he is a proven commodity at an important position. Van Demark is intriguing after signing as a restricted free agent from the Buffalo Bills, but he’s already 28 and has started six games during his NFL career. Tiernan could also be a project and have a long-term future at guard if Will Fries doesn’t live up to his $17.2 million cap hit for next season.
With O’Connell having a strong voice in the team’s roster construction, it may be safe to assume he may not be going anywhere. That leaves the final details to be ironed out and both sides to agree on a deal that could come as soon as the Vikings report to training camp next month.
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