EAGAN, Minn. — Kevin O’Connell made clear Monday that he needs to proceed because the Minnesota Vikings’ head coach, whilst his contract standing has reportedly spurred curiosity from different NFL groups in buying his providers by way of commerce.
“I am probably not eager about form of, I assume I ought to say, addressing the rumors or hypothesis,” O’Connell mentioned. “What I can inform you is I like this workforce. I like all the pieces about this group. That is the place I need to be. That is the place I need to preserve teaching and main.”
O’Connell and basic supervisor Kwesi Adofo-Mensah every signed four-year contracts once they had been employed inside weeks of one another in 2022. They put collectively a mixed 20-14 document of their first two seasons, however house owners Zygi and Mark Wilf determined towards providing contract extensions to both on the midpoint of their offers. Mark Wilf mentioned in August that these discussions can be focused for after the 2024 season, if warranted, and the Vikings went on to publish an surprising 14-3 document and qualify for the playoffs.
However till a deal is reached, O’Connell can be on observe to be a training free agent after the 2025 season. Sunday morning, Fox Sports activities reported that a number of NFL groups can be eager about buying O’Connell by way of commerce if the Vikings had been to make him out there.
However a number of workforce sources mentioned this weekend that the Wilfs have no real interest in buying and selling O’Connell, and O’Connell’s assertion Monday demonstrated he had no real interest in forcing his means out. He mentioned his “sole focus at this level” is discovering a solution to transfer on from Sunday’s 31-9 loss to the Detroit Lions and begin laying the muse of a win towards the Los Angeles Rams in subsequent Monday’s wild-card playoff sport at SoFi Stadium.
“[I’m not interested] in any conversations in my view at this level that actually aren’t in regards to the Rams and the duty at hand,” O’Connell mentioned, “and my private accountability to guide instant enchancment off of yesterday but in addition capitalizing on the chance to be within the event. [That’s] my sole focus at this level.”
In three seasons in Minnesota, O’Connell has a 34-17 regular-season document, sixth finest within the NFL over that interval. He’s one in all three coaches in NFL historical past, together with Matt LaFleur and George Seifert, to win at the very least 13 video games in two of his first three seasons as a head coach.
