Kevin OConnell: Vikings have some real decisions ahead to get under salary cap

May 2024 · 6 minute read

INDIANAPOLIS — Following his news conference Wednesday afternoon at the NFL Scouting Combine, Minnesota Vikings coach Kevin O’Connell met with a small group of beat writers.

Here are five takeaways from the conversation, beginning with O’Connell’s thoughts on the free-agent decisions and potential cuts that will be made in the next couple of weeks.

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1. The Vikings need to clear $23 million of 2023 salary to get under the cap. Doing so could mean some hard decisions on key contributors from last season like Dalvin Cook, Eric Kendricks, Za’Darius Smith and others.

“There’s a lot of different directions you can go,” O’Connell said, “and (each decision) affects another one and another one. It is something I’ve thought a lot about.”

O’Connell said he values the way the aforementioned players embraced his hiring last year and appreciates the way they helped bring about an entirely new culture.

O’Connell respects the way Patrick Peterson, soon to be an unrestricted free agent, set a standard for young contributors in the secondary. O’Connell knows safety Harrison Smith has done much of the same.

Wide receiver Adam Thielen’s cap number and age (32) present another complicated decision, and O’Connell is mindful of the many factors.

“We’re going to continue to look at what’s the best route to go moving forward (with Thielen),” O’Connell said. “I think there’s a conversation to be had to really see what that looks like: playing time and roles and responsibilities.”

"I feel better than I ever have about our chances moving forward." pic.twitter.com/WKHqPZU8ea

— Minnesota Vikings (@Vikings) March 1, 2023

The coach has made it a priority to educate himself on the particulars of the team’s cap constraints.

“The more I can learn about details and particulars of our current situation, previous situations and what it looks like moving forward,” O’Connell said, “the more my conversations can not only come from an accurate place of where we are but where we hope to get to.”

Meetings with general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah and executive vice president of football operations Rob Brzezinski have helped O’Connell in this regard. However, there is no mistaking the reality.

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“We’ve got some real decisions to talk through and things to work through,” O’Connell said.

2. One of those decisions involves quarterback Kirk Cousins. On Tuesday, Adofo-Mensah explained that Cousins’ camp wants certainty if he is to sign a new deal, while the Vikings seek flexibility. Finding a suitable compromise appears to be the current strategy.

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Vikings GM Kwesi Adofo-Mensah on the futures of Kirk Cousins and Justin Jefferson

On Wednesday, O’Connell said he’s hoping that their shared experience in 2022 will help both sides satisfy their needs.

“My main goal was to connect with (Cousins) and build on a relationship,” O’Connell said. “It’s even stronger now. That’s the byproduct of trying to do things the way we do. There are some hard conversations sometimes. We laugh. There are times when he’s mad and when I’m mad. But there’s a foundation of care.”

O’Connell said the conversations with Cousins are “ongoing.”

“It’s not like there’s some secret thing going on,” O’Connell said. “We’re having conversations with our players, their representation, and ultimately how all of those things shake out will be done in a way where we just want to make sure we stand by what we believe in as an organization.”

He reiterated that he is proud of the way Cousins played in 2022 and is looking forward to seeing the 34-year-old build on things in 2023.

“There’s a reason why I feel so strongly about Kirk,” O’Connell said. “I’ve been very honest about that. I believe in him as a player.”

3. None of that is to say O’Connell is not evaluating quarterbacks in this year’s draft.

Asked about the Vikings’ long-term future at that position, O’Connell said he surveys the landscape of the position each year out of habit.

“We always have to be evaluating,” O’Connell said.

While some coaches chose not to attend this year’s combine, O’Connell places considerable value on meeting players in person. He and Adofo-Mensah greet each prospect when they enter the room — both to establish their “culture of care” and provide other Vikings staffers in the room a glimpse at the player’s size. (O’Connell is 6-foot-5, so his frame provides a solid comparison.)

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4. The day the Vikings introduced defensive coordinator Brian Flores, O’Connell mentioned the thorough self-evaluation process that took place when the season ended.

O’Connell explained Wednesday that that process ranged from reviewing game-management decisions to gauging his team’s success in various schemes and plays.

“If I demand our team to improve in certain areas,” O’Connell said, “I’ve got to do the things we need to do as a staff.”

One element of his team’s play that must improve? The rushing attack. O’Connell is well aware.

“It comes down to efficiency,” he said. “The home runs and long ones are great, but as a play caller, I’d love to be second-and-5. If you tell me I’m second-and-5, here we go. We’re in a position to do a lot of different things regardless of field position, score of the game, personnel groupings.”

Conversely, when the Vikings ran for zero or negative yards on first down, something they did more than any other team in the league aside from the Jaguars, they would then be fighting uphill.

On third-and-8, for example, the Vikings’ personnel options were limited. They needed more receivers on the field. Predictability, then, provides comfort to defenses. That, more than anything, is what O’Connell wants to eliminate.

He categorized the current state of rushing in the NFL into three separate strategies: deploying a running quarterback, operating in the run-pass option world, and going the traditional route with run-pass deception from under center.

The third strategy is the one the Vikings currently employ, and it may be the option with the least room for error. O’Connell, though, sounded committed to making it work.

5. As he reviewed the way defenses matched up against his team, O’Connell noticed a trend. Teams that typically played with one-high safety against most opponents often utilized two-high safeties against the Vikings.

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The numbers bear out O’Connell’s observation. From Week 14 through the wild-card loss to the Giants, the Vikings faced 190 snaps against defenses that played with the middle of the field open, by far the highest in the league during that period.

“This organization saw a shift in how it was being defended from previous years to this year,” O’Connell said. “You’ve got to ask yourself the question: Why?”

The obvious answer? Justin Jefferson’s superstar turn.

Just scratching the surface with #18 pic.twitter.com/MpWlPV7MoN

— Minnesota Vikings (@Vikings) March 1, 2023

“And then, ultimately,” O’Connell said, “you’ve got to ask: How do we use that information to our advantage moving forward?”

That O’Connell even cited this statistic demonstrates the team is thinking about how to fully maximize its offense. How O’Connell and the front office maneuver through these personnel decisions to counteract the way defenses have played them could well become a key story in 2023.

(Photo: Kirby Lee / USA Today)

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