Brian O’Neill spent Wednesday morning in a spot he doesn’t usually occupy: front and center.
The Vikings right tackle was at the podium before the team’s first practice of training camp at TCO Performance Center, fresh off a four-year contract extension that was announced Tuesday. The reported $96 million deal keeps O’Neill in Minnesota and makes him one of the highest-paid tackles in the NFL.
For O’Neill, the biggest takeaway wasn’t the money or the headlines. It was getting to stay put.
"I just want to start by saying how excited I am to stay in Minnesota. I’m really excited keep this journey going and I’m going to give it my all every single day to finally get over that hump and go where we really want to go," O’Neill said.
The veteran said the negotiations picked up in the weeks before camp, after he had spent most of the voluntary offseason program on the sideline while playing out the final year of his previous contract. He made clear he wasn’t a fan of the uncertainty.
"Those were some pretty fun phone calls to make," O’Neill said. "Not to mince words, I hated the whole spring situation.
I don’t like not doing everything, I like being out there no matter what it is, walkthroughs, practices. I didn’t have to wonder too much what the other road would look like.
Happy it didn’t get to that point."
Now entering his ninth season with the Vikings, O’Neill has been one of the steadiest pieces on the roster. He’s made 120 starts in 124 career games at right tackle and has missed just six games over the past three seasons.
He said he’s drawn to the daily grind of football and doesn’t think of his career in terms of proving people wrong. Instead, he’s focused on proving the people who believed in him were right.
And when asked what he’s most proud of from his eight years in Minnesota, O’Neill didn’t go with individual honors or longevity. He pointed straight at the team goal that still drives him.
Getting to and winning a Super Bowl.
"We’ve won one playoff game in eight years, so I’m not going to sit and here and be like it’s been fun. We haven’t done it," O’Neill said. "I want to be most proud of when I’m done here, that we went on a couple runs and gave ourselves a chance at the big one."
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