The Minnesota Vikings face a daunting path to the Super Bowl, but ownership has supreme confidence in head coach Kevin O’Connell.
Fox Sports’ Jay Glazer questioned O’Connell’s future in Minnesota in a report delivered ahead of the Week 18 Sunday slate. O’Connell has one more year on his contract. According to Glazer, there are teams interested in trading for O’Connell.
O’Connell did not reciprocate that potential interest.
“I’m not really interested in kind of, I guess I should say, addressing the rumors or speculation,” O’Connell told reporters on January 6. “What I can tell you is I love this team, I love everything about this organization, and this is where I want to be. This is where I want to keep coaching and leading.”
O’Connell said his “sole focus” is the Vikings matchup against the Los Angeles Rams in the Wild Card Round, improving from Week 18, and capitalizing on their playoff berth.
“There’s one candidate out there that’s going to surprise you all, that no one knows is on list,” Glazer reported on “Fox NFL Sunday” on January 5. “There are multiple teams that actually are considering trying to trade and for Kevin O’Connell. And the reason why? Next year, the last year of his deal. Had no contract talks yet, at all. And 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.
“Also, Kevin O’Connell kind of has the card cards here, and [could say], ‘Hey, listen, I’m not going to resign there. So you might as well get something for me.’ Now, I don’t know. Because, obviously I don’t think Kevin knows about this right now, but there are multiple teams who have them on that board to see, let’s at least try and see if we can trade for him.”
Vikings Beat Cuts Down Kevin O’Connell Trade Rumor
GettyMinnesota Vikings head coach Kevin O’Connell calls a timeout against the Green Bay Packers.
Glazer’s report drew critiques from Vikings beat writers, largely due to the nebulous description of O’Connell’s future.
“Yes, O’Connell’s stock is as high as it could get around the NFL,” The Minnesota Star Tribune’s Ben Goessling posted on X in reaction, plugging an interview with Vikings owners Mark and Zygi Wilf. “But the Vikings love him; contract talks are coming.”
“We’re looking forward to a great future with these guys,” Mark Wilf told Goessling in the interview, which was published on January 4. “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.”
More than that, the two sides have held talks.
“Wilfs offered no new contract after the team went 7-11 in 2023,” ESPN’s Kevin Seifert posted on X on January 5. “Mark Wilf said in August that he would revisit this winter.”
Siefert also noted the Vikings started over at quarterback this season. They went from Kirk Cousins to Sam Darnold and still won 14 games. That is the record for a quarterback in his first season with a new team.
“Wilfs are thrilled,” Seifert said in the post. “Only way he is traded is if he wants to leave.”
“Certainly in our organization and our coaching staff, we do believe we have the best people involved,” Zygi Wilf told Goessling. “We’re just very proud of that.”
Potential Kevin O’Connell Trade Could Land 1st-Round Pick, More
GettyMinnesota Vikings general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah (L) and head coach Kevin O’Connell address the media.
The NFL has seen seven trades involving head coaches since 1997, per NBC Sports’ Eric Mullin in January 2023. That is when Bill Parcells went from the New England Patriots to the New York Jets. In 2023, Sean Payton went from the New Orleans Saints to the Denver Broncos.
In both instances, the deal included one first and one second-round pick going from the acquiring team to the coach’s current organization.
The most a team has given up in a trade for a coach was two firsts.
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers acquired Jon Gruden from the then-Oakland Raiders in 2002, and included a pair of second-round picks and $8 million cash. However, the Arizona Cardinals received a sixth-round pick and sent a seventh to the Bucs for Bruce Arians in 2019.
His former colleague, Kyle Shanahan of the San Francisco 49ers was the subject of similar speculation. Shanahan and his bosses also shut those rumors down.
The Vikings could land a haul for O’Connell. But that is not in either side’s plans.
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