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Ahead of the NFL offseason, a report from Pro Football Talk’s Mike Florio described “tension” between the Minnesota Vikings and head coach Kevin O’Connell ahead of contract talks for the head coach entering the fourth and final year of his deal.
However, local beat reporter Darren Wolfson of KSTP took issue with that description.
Wolfson clarified that it was more “frustration” about a deal not getting done in 2024 but that shouldn’t lead to any doubts about O’Connell’s future.
“Tension is not the word I would use. I firmly believe that Trace Armstrong, the agent for Kevin O’Connell, was hoping for talks to pick up after London (following their fifth straight win to open the season),” Wolfson said on a January 16 SKOR North appearance.
“Mike McDaniel, head coach of the Miami Dolphins… hired at the same time as [O’Connell], received a contract extension after two seasons. I do think there was some frustration, is that maybe a better word? I don’t know if would go with tension. I still believe, in the end, Trace, the Wilfs, are going to work out a contract extension, that [O’Connell] is going to be here for a long time.”
ESPN’s Kevin Seifert reported that “multiple sources told ESPN that O’Connell was “displeased” by ownership declining to offer an extension after two seasons. The Wilfs announced last summer that they would engage in extension talks after the season — a custom practice for the Vikings.
In a de-facto “prove it” year, O’Connell made Vikings history as the fastest coach to reach 30 career wins and the only head coach to lead multiple 13-win seasons. O’Connell is now positioned for a more lucrative contract with the Wilf’s decision to wait out the 2024 season.
“What I would say is I love being the head coach of the Minnesota Vikings,” O’Connell said in his end-of-season news conference. “With that becomes the fact that I love our ownership. I have a great relationship with our ownership and feel so fortunate not only just the way they support us and believe in us, but also the impact they have on our players, on our locker room and ultimately where we all want to go together. Feel very, very great about that.”
Vikings Announcer Blasts Source of Kevin O’Connell Trade Rumor
O’Connell’s future in Minnesota was never questioned until NFL insider Jay Glazer said on Fox Sports that multiple teams are considering trading for O’Connell.
The report came a day before the Vikings’ Week 18 matchup with the Detroit Lions. Vikings play-by-play announcer Paul Allen took issue with whoever leaked that information to Glazer in a fiery rant.
“It’s the timing. I’m just gonna lay it out like this: if that rumor came from Kevin O’Connell’s agent — and I don’t even know what his agent’s name is — shame on him and shame on everybody involved with that rumor if it came from there,” Allen said during a January 14 episode of his daily radio show. “Because it deflects attention from a game that day to secure a one-seed for a 14-win team.”
Allen, who traveled with the team to Detroit, sensed the report got under the skin of many within the Vikings organization.
“I don’t know where this thing came from, man, but I just know what it was like being in Troy, Michigan, at the team hotel when it popped and then the conversations on the sideline before the game, and the conversations after the game, and some conversations I had last night with people about the future of the head coach of the Minnesota Vikings,” Allen added.
“When that thing popped up the way it did, I’m just starting to try to figure out — I’m not going to pursue this, but like, how? Why? Why at that time? And if it came from anybody associated with Kevin O’Connell’s camp, I’m just going to say it as bluntly as I can: shame on you. That’s selfish and it lacks self-awareness and it jettisons the totality of a team and it takes it from thy to I.”
Vikings Should Learn From O’Connell Fiasco
The Vikings should take the O’Connell drama as a lesson moving in future business dealings.
The more days that go by and O’Connell does not have a new contract in hand, the more drama festers.
Minnesota could have sent a message to the league, announcing an extension for O’Connell at one of the team’s biggest media gatherings of the year. Instead, the Vikings coach had to address questions about his future in his final news conference of the season.
The Vikings should act promptly and get a deal done as soon as possible.
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