The Minnesota Vikings will battle the Detroit Lions for the NFC North title and home-field advantage in the playoffs on Sunday, but many national pundits remain fixated on several offseason storylines.
One item that needs to be addressed is the status of Vikings head coach Kevin O’Connell, who will enter the final year of his contract in 2025. With the threat of being a lame-duck coach, FOX Sports’ Jay Glazer reported on Sunday that O’Connell is on the list of several teams coaching vacancies, and they could contact Minnesota to work out a trade next offseason.
“There are multiple teams that actually are considering trying to trade for Kevin O’Connell. And the reason why? Next year is the last year of his deal. He’s had no contract talks yet at all. Look, if you’re a team out there saying “Why not take a shot? See if we can do it.”
Maybe the Vikings don’t let it happen. But also Kevin O’Connell kind of card saying, "Hey, listen. I’m not going to re-sign there, so you might as well get something for me.”
Chances of Minnesota Vikings trading Kevin O’Connell are as high as them also trading Justin Jefferson
Glazer’s report has some valid points. O’Connell is heading into the last year of his contract in 2025. Minnesota hasn’t had contract extension talks, so why wouldn’t a team put that on their list of hypotheticals this offseason?
Teams probably considered calling the Vikings to try and trade for Justin Jefferson last year. Teams who need a quarterback probably have thought about calling the Buffalo Bills to trade for Josh Allen or the Kansas City Chiefs to trade for Patrick Mahomes. The worst they could do is hang up the phone and laugh, right?
But in case people need to hear it, the Vikings aren’t letting O’Connell go anywhere. Since replacing Mike Zimmer in 2022, O’Connell has a 34-16 record, has a .660 winning percentage that would beat Bud Grant’s .621 clip for the highest in franchise history, and he could have his second division title in three years if Minnesota beats the Lions on Sunday.
O’Connell has also solved the Vikings’ Rubik’s Cube, leading Sam Darnold to a season so good, that pundits wonder if Minnesota will trade its quarterback of the future, J.J. McCarthy.
Even if a suggestion that O’Connell would feel slighted about not getting an extension were true, he didn’t look like a guy eager for his next job as his team hoisted Darnold on their shoulders after last week’s win over the Green Bay Packers.
Take it from the Wilf family, who voiced their support for O’Connell when asked about the contract situations of the head coach and Minnesota general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah by the Minnesota Star Tribune’s Ben Goessling earlier this week.
“We’re looking forward to a great future with these guys,” Vikings co-owner Mark Wilf said. “We look forward to having those conversations with each of them after the season. We have tremendous confidence, and we look forward to their continued leadership of the franchise.”
This doesn’t sound like an owner willing to give up O’Connell’s culture for a first-round pick, and the Vikings probably haven’t started contract discussions because he's busy leading the team to their best season in nearly three decades.
O’Connell’s contract will get done, but until it does, it will be the subject of pregame fodder like it was on Sunday.