Kevin O'Connell Contract

Every once in a while there is a whole plan in place but when it comes the time for execution it doesn’t work out. The same can be said of the Minnesota Vikings young head coach Kevin O’Connell. In the ideal world, O’Connell would have imagined being a starting quarterback for some team in the NFL and getting to play a lot of games until his retirement. This would definitely have been his plan especially once he got drafted and his time in the league had officially started back in 2008.

As luck would have it, that plan didn’t materialize the way he would have wanted as he played backup to Tom Brady for the New England Patriots in his rookie year and got to play in just two games with limited snaps. From then onwards he was limited to an offseason or practice squad member with different franchises and his two years with the New York Jets didn’t see him take the field even once.

However, O’Connell didn’t give up his passion for the game. American football is such a captivating sport that even if one doesn’t get to play it at the highest level teaching it is almost equally fun. Following a similar thought process, the former Patriots’ backup signal caller turned his attention to coaching after quitting his playing career within five years in the league.

How much is Kevin O’Connell’s Contract

Getting the exact idea of the coaches, staff and front office members in the NFL is very difficult since the teams do not publish this information for the public to see. It is not the same as that of the players whose contract details are handed out to the media for everyone to take note of.

Having said that, the NFL is a performance and experience based league meaning that you will get handsomely rewarded either due to your experience and knowledge of the game or due to strong performances.

In the case of Kevin O’Connell, the former Rams offensive coordinator doesn’t possess either of the two since he is one of the youngest head coaches in the league currently. In addition to that, O’Connell is in his first job as a head coach with the Vikings thus he lacks the required experience as well. Given all of this it is quite possible that the Vikings head coach is earning somewhere in the range of $3 to $5 million per year.

Kevin O'Connell Age

The current Vikings head coach is 38 years old as of August 2023. He was born on May 25, 1985 in Knoxville, Tennessee. In his youth, he attended La Costa Canyon High School in California where he played both football and basketball. After graduating from high school he then enrolled in San Diego State University where he continued playing football for the Aztecs football team.

The last time O’Connell was involved in any sort of football as a player was in 2012 as a practice squad member with the then-San Diego Chargers (Los Angeles Chargers). After leaving the league, O’Connell returned in 2015 in the capacity of a quarterback’s coach with the Cleveland Browns. Spending the next few seasons working various coaching roles with different teams, O’Connell finally got the head coach job in 2022 with the Vikings. He became the second youngest head coach in the history of the NFL at the age of 36 years.

Kevin O’Connell first season with Vikings

The past year was O’Connell’s first year as the head coach of the Vikings, and more importantly, it was also his first year as a head coach for any team. In that sense, the challenge was already quite daunting. He had also just replaced a veteran head coach who was in charge of the team for the past eight seasons. Filling such shoes was not the easiest job, but to O’Connell’s credit, he managed his first season quite superbly.

O’Connell took control of a team that was 8-9 the previous year and missed the playoffs. With the new and younger coach, the team felt more at ease with added freedom, something that was missing previously. More importantly, the former offensive coordinator for the Super Bowl-winning Rams spent quality time getting to know and developing Kirk Cousins in the quarterback role. Offensively the new head coach brought about several key changes and got excellent production from his star players such as Cousins and wide receiver Justin Jefferson.

For the moment the focus will be more on improving their defense as that is the main area where they faltered last season. Being an offensive minded coach who played quarterback and became the offensive coordinator, he will have to entrust the defense to his defensive coordinator while managing the team overall. But the Vikings already have a base to improve upon this year and that should give them plenty of confidence.