JULY 31: O’Neill will collect a $27.1MM signing bonus, as detailed by Ben Goessling of the Minnesota Star Tribune. His base salaries for 2026 ($5.1MM) and ’27 ($17.2MM) are guaranteed in full. Roster and workout bonuses are present in the pact, along with salary escalators covering 2027-30. The extension has lowered O’Neill’s cap hit for this year to $14.74MM.
JULY 28: The Vikings have agreed to a contract extension with right tackle Brian O’Neill, the team announced on Tuesday.
The deal is worth $96MM over four years (via ESPN’s Adam Schefter) and will keep O’Neill in Minnesota through the 2030 season. The $24MM AAV is a substantial raise over his last extension, worth $18.5MM per year, and makes him the 10th-highest-paid offensive tackle in the league.
With Penei Sewell sliding to left tackle, O’Neill’s new contract checks in second — behind only Eagles stalwart Lane Johnson‘s $25MM-per-year deal — among right tackles. Although O’Neill entered today as the league’s fifth-highest-paid RT, Vikings moved him past Tytus Howard‘s new Browns accord ($22.5MM AAV) and the $22MM-per-year deals the Packers and Panthers respectively handed Zach Tom and Taylor Moton in 2025.
O’Neill, 30, was originally a second-round pick in 2018 and took over the Vikings’ starting right tackle job partway through his rookie year. He has started 120 games across his eight-year career with Pro Bowl nods in 2021 and 2024.
Injuries have been somewhat of an issue – he has played just three full seasons and missed three games due to heel and knee injuries last year. In 14 starts, though, O’Neill played extremely well, allowing 21 pressures and just two sacks, per Pro Football Focus (subscription required). He also posted a career-high 84.5 run-blocking grade that ranked eighth among all offensive tackles.
This deal, one O’Neill lobbied for during the offseason, will reduce his Vikings-high cap hit ($23.16MM) for 2026. It soon became known the Vikings held mutual extension interest, and they made the ninth-year vet a priority. With Harrison Smith not rostered, O’Neill is the Vikes’ longest-tenured player.
Minnesota does have three O-line links to the Rick Spielman-Mike Zimmer era, with Christian Darrisaw arriving in that duo’s final draft and center Blake Brandel entering his seventh season with the franchise. Brandel is on a low-end deal (three years, $9.5MM), while left guard Donovan Jackson is tied to rookie terms through 2028. Right guard Will Fries represents a third pricey O-line deal on Minnesota’s payroll, being attached to a five-year deal worth $87.72MM.
Today’s deal ensures that the Vikings have their bookend tackles under contract for the next four seasons. The team will be hoping Darrisaw can make a strong comeback this year after losing much of the last two seasons to a brutal knee injury suffered in 2024. He is signed through 2029, giving Minnesota’s next franchise quarterback (whoever that may be) a proven tackle duo to protect them.
The Vikings are taking full advantage of their low-cost quarterback setup, as big-ticket deals are present on four slots across their offensive depth chart. Justin Jefferson‘s $35MM-per-year extension is fourth among receivers. Darrisaw is the league’s sixth-highest-paid tackle; Fries sits just outside the top 10 among guards. This also represents the first major contract call for new Vikings GM Nolan Teasley. Decisions remain on handful of other extension-eligible players over the next two years, however.
The Vikings have no shortage of other contract situations to address. Tight end T.J. Hockenson, running backs Aaron Jones and Jordan Mason, linebackers Blake Cashman and Ivan Pace, and edge rusher Andrew Van Ginkel are all in the final year of their deals, and 2023 first-round pick Jordan Addison is extension-eligible, too.
This content was brought to you by: Pro Football Rumors
