Kevin O'Connell - Head Coach, vikings Event: Press Conference | Date: 2026-09-16 | Full transcript (primary source).
Kevin O'Connell, Head Coach of the Vikings, addressed the media during a press conference on September 16, 2026, to discuss the team's preparations for an upcoming divisional matchup. He provided updates on player injuries and roster changes following the first week of the NFL season.
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Transcript
O'Connell: Good afternoon guys, obviously, you know a big challenge ahead this week. We knew it when the schedule came out. Two divisional games to start the season and going on the road to the division champs who clearly played really well in week one. They got a lot of momentum. They're really really good football team. So a lot of work ahead of us this week to prep and get ready.
O'Connell: Did want to update you guys. So as we kind of continue to evaluate Jordan Mason, got some imaging and really figured out what was going on. He does have a small fracture in his thumb that he was able to, it's already been fixed and that recovery process is starting. Not thinking it's going to be a long-term thing but, you know, a little bit beyond a couple weeks here. So that'll be a short-term I our thing that will bring DJ Dallas to the roster.
O'Connell: And then we'll, you know, we'll obviously we have Daman that we're excited about as well as, you know, signing Jerome Ford to the practice squad. So we'll work through kind of what the game day looks like as we work through the week. But the good news is we'll have Jordan back. Don't anticipate that being longer, kind of in that short-term four week window.
O'Connell: Kyle, there's going to be a limited practice participant today working through the protocol. We'll see how he responds and continue to rely on the medical folks in that regard. And then lastly, Jawon Jennings, you won't see him out there today. He's just dealing with a personal family matter. So we'll keep you guys posted as we work through the week on that and everything else.
O'Connell: Yeah, I thought I just thought it was a huge move by Nolan. He had familiarity with the player and then you could see why he was so confident in bringing him in. We're excited as coaches and that was Matt Daniels in the kicking game. Clearly, we saw his impact made a tackle and a huge block to spring Jug on that Miles Price on that long return.
O'Connell: He's very, very smart player. The physicality that he plays with on team shows up in pass pro and he's, you know, got some good instincts and vision and tools as a runner. So to have him available to us here has been big and obviously with Jordan's situation, he'll, you know, he'll probably see an even more increased role.
O'Connell: Yeah, we signed Jerome Ford to the practice squad, a veteran player and a guy we've, you know, kind of been monitoring for a while. He's healthy now and getting him in here will be huge. We'll see where those guys are at. But Daman, you know, Daman is doing everything in his power to, you know, kind of be ready to go and you guys know how excited I am about the player and we'll get him ready.
O'Connell: And we'll make the best determination when Sunday comes around. Yeah, the good thing is, you know, the amount of reps he got from, you know, obviously competing and then being named the starter, like he's got a lot of reps logged away. But yeah, we'll really, we're taking it, you know, kind of period by period as far as the plan we have.
O'Connell: But we want to be monitoring, you know, how he's doing from a standpoint of that limited participation. It's a little bit more of a, you know, a vague thing at the quarterback position just because they're in red jerseys anyway all the way up until game time. So we'll kind of just deal with it as it comes to us.
O'Connell: You anticipate here and then soldering most of the loader and you still see it as kind of a, yeah, I think Aaron, you know, obviously as part of our, you know, lead back one a 1b rotation, he's gonna be heavily, you know, heavily involved and at the same time we want to keep him fresh.
O'Connell: And we'll, we ask a lot of them as it is, but no, we've got some guys that can handle some carries, handle some, you know, situational snaps on third down and then, you know, we'll use our game day to, you know, whether we're tagging guys in there on certain things, we'll use it to, you know, to the best of our abilities to make sure we got the best game day operation we can.
O'Connell: Dennis Allen style defense, like what specifics come to your mind when you think of going against him? Yeah, he's always, you know, going back many years, I mean even before he got to Chicago but going back to New Orleans and he's always been, you know, they're very physical up front.
O'Connell: They're always seem to have those like playmaking run to the ball linebackers. They can do a lot of different things, good blitzers. And then secondary wise, you know, they're very sticky in coverage. They've got one of the best in the league in Jalen.
O'Connell: You know, I think, you know, Tyreek's always been, you know, physically so gifted and big physical come run. So you really got a, I told our receivers today, you know, it's gonna be a challenge. They're tight in coverage and that's a lot of their coverages and their hands-on and you got to have a plan.
O'Connell: You got to work your technique fundamentals and you got to compete and then obviously the safeties that they had a year ago were so, you know, important in turning the ball over as much as they did and it looks like the guys they got out there, you know, obviously Dylan and, and you know, the other guy 21, he's, you know, he's got a ton of coverage ability, physicality as a tackler, big ball instincts.
O'Connell: So they've done a really good job kind of reloading that back end knowing they still have those corners. I wouldn't just put some scary stuff on tape that defenses have to deal with and last Sunday looked downright terrifying.
O'Connell: Yeah, well, I think, you know, at their core they want to run the football and when they can run it, it opens up everything that they want to do. So we've got to first and foremost start with a good plan there and that's a challenge.
O'Connell: But to me, Caleb, he's just such a unique talent from a standpoint of makes all the throws on schedule and they do a great job getting guys open marrying the run in the pass. You know, unique plays that you have to defend all the width of the field as well.
O'Connell: Great guys that with the ball in their hands throughout their, you know, receiving core running backs and tight ends. But then it's just those times that he gets out and whether he's, you saw it, I think it was a tie game late in the first half the other day and he runs the ball in from, you know, on a simple.
O'Connell: They're trying to work through a play and the rush is doing everything they can to get to him and then he gets out and it's a touchdown and he makes playing defense difficult because you got to account for him.
O'Connell: You got to know how to, you know, where he is and where he's going and then when he does that, the explosive chunk runs that he can get are backbreakers but then it also forces you as a defense to maybe expose on the back end those off-schedule plays.
O'Connell: And he's shown, you know, thinking back to the playoffs last year some of those throws he makes, you know, I vividly remember the fourth down against Green Bay moving to his left and just drops an absolute dime on a gotta-have-it play where it was defended as well as Green Bay could defend it and he still made the play and then finished the drive with points.
O'Connell: So, you know, it's on schedule, it's off schedule, it's his athletic ability, his ability to make all the throws and then they couple all of his skill set with a run game that, you know, they do as good a job as anybody.
O'Connell: Did you feel pressure earlier in your career to be more prolific? I don't, I don't think it's, it's not so much pressure. I think it's just the pathway, you know, with guys.
O'Connell: You know whether it was, you know, with Kirk and my belief in him in year one and then knowing we had, you know, Justin and Adam and KJ and, and we acquire TJ and like you're looking at the strength of your team as the ability to, you know, throw the football and we had a lot of success doing that.
O'Connell: But then, you know, you as you work through some of the adversity at different positions we've experienced, you know, from injury and other reasons, you're, you know, you have to navigate whatever that is.
O'Connell: Nobody cares. Nobody, the expectation is to go out and do whatever you think is best to win a football game. And I think that's where, you know, you have to look at things through the lens of that could be different every week.
O'Connell: But there's principles of playing complementary football, especially now with flow and what he's been able to build defensively, you know, our ability to change the game in the kicking game, how that all works, field position does matter still.
O'Connell: It doesn't get talked about a whole lot. It still matters the ability to possess the football matters and the ability to try to, you know, make the game, you know, a play style kind of game requires certain, you know, conviction with how you call it.
O'Connell: And you know, that doesn't always mean it's gonna equal explosive run after explosive run and you got to know that as a play caller how you're setting up plays, how you're trying to attack the defense.
O'Connell: And then how you play on those weighty downs to keep drives alive, which I thought was a big deal the other day when we were able to convert enough third downs and convert some short, you know, running the football allowed us to have some third and shorters where we were able to run it and get the first down.
O'Connell: To be super clear, are you not ruling Kyler out? You have not? Yeah, he'll just be limited today and we're just kind of going a day by day right now.
O'Connell: Time a period where he would need to be cleared by for him to play on Sunday? Yeah, I think Friday, you know, would be, you know, having the ability to go through the next couple days for sure see where he's at.
O'Connell: But at the same time, you know, deferring so much to, you know, those medical professionals that are, you know, he's talking to and, you know, he's got to be, he's got to be medically cleared before we even have the conversation about playing in a game.
O'Connell: And that's how we've handled all of these situations, quarterback position or not, the protocol, you know, is kind of a guiding light behind all this.
O'Connell: About Dallas and just the progression that he's made at what point, like throughout his journey, do you feel like you really started to feel like the confidence or whatever stood out most?
O'Connell: I think he's always, we've all, you guys included probably always noticed the physical talent. I mean so gifted athletically, strength, you know, his ability to, you know, use his length as a rusher.
O'Connell: But I think just watching him and slowly, but surely sometimes at that position it happens and you know when he first got here he had two Pro Bowlers, you know, at the in the same position group and it's not like you could just say hey we're just gonna throw him in there at a different spot.
O'Connell: That's not great for his development to help him get to where I believe he is now. But I do believe he's maximized his offseason. He's maximized, you know, his comfort in the defense.
O'Connell: You know, flow and and his staff have done a phenomenal job pinpointing, you know, how to activate him as one of our real impact players and then he's following it up with a toolbox and a skill set now to be hard to block one on one.
O'Connell: He's hard to block, you know, within our scheme where people are obviously concerned about pressure and things like that. And then it's his comfort level of applying the techniques and his athleticism in those moments that's so exciting.
O'Connell: And I've seen it firsthand trying to trying to move the ball against, you know, that group in training camp, the off seasons and then just there's a maturity factor that comes along when you've put in all that work.
O'Connell: You just feel it. I mean he's a guy a bunch of got a bunch of votes to be a captain. I mean people look at him not only as an ascending player on the scene now, but a guy that's going to have an impact here for a really long time.
