Inside The Vikings

Kevin O'Connell Gives Great Answer to Draft Question at Church Event

Being an NFL head coach means getting asked about quarterback footwork at church.

Will Ragatz

Feb 27, 2024; Indianapolis, IN, USA; Minnesota Vikings head coach Kevin O'Connell speaks during a press conference
Feb 27, 2024; Indianapolis, IN, USA; Minnesota Vikings head coach Kevin O'Connell speaks during a press conference / Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports
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Draft fever is reaching a crescendo in Minnesota. On Thursday evening, Vikings head coach Kevin O'Connell was giving a talk called "Faith & Leadership: Coaching in the NFL" at St. Philip the Deacon Lutheran Church in Plymouth. Towards the end of the session, he was taking questions from the audience when an attendee asked him about quarterback prospects Drake Maye and J.J. McCarthy.

"When you're comparing Drake Maye to J.J., and when you can see J.J. operating in the Harbaugh system, and he's got really good feet," began the person's question. "But then Drake Maye, the arm talent and the throws and the anticipating windows, how do you sort of compare that — and be like 'you know what, even though his feet aren't exactly how we need them, he could be, say, like a Josh Allen or something?'"

Amid some laughter from the crowd, O'Connell — who is used to getting these kinds of questions from reporters — didn't bat an eye.

"For a couple years, I've been kind of known as the quarterback killer, when it comes to the draft, in Eagan," O'Connell said. "Because the feeling that I feel from our fanbase is when we get this next guy, he's gonna be the guy. And I feel it, I know you guys all feel it. So I have had to, in a lot of ways, fight off some mistakes from being made. Mainly because the evaluation process I go through, I think about the things that are fixable. I think about the things that are coachable. And then you think about the things that, you know, you could coach another 15 years with a player and you might not be able to fix.

"And hope and faith are wonderful things; I do like them to not necessarily be strategies. I do very much believe in certain principles of playing the quarterback position. I believe the lower half of any quarterback can be fixed with the proper coaching and teaching. I think when you see the good things on tape, you see things that they can do better on tape, you're looking for a lot of different things and to check a lot of boxes. And ultimately, when you feel like you find that guy, then you gotta hope that 31 other teams are complicit in making sure that they can become a Minnesota Viking.

"But we only need one team to be complicit. And hopefully we find that team."

"Maybe you can work your Patriots connection at 3," the question-asker added.

"I may or may not have sent a nice bouquet of flowers to Robert Kraft the other day," O'Connell responded while smiling.

This is just an incredible fan-coach interaction in an unexpected setting. It was a great question from the guy attending the event and an even better answer from O'Connell. By calling himself a "quarterback killer," he appeared to be saying that he's had to shut down ideas of drafting quarterbacks in the past because he didn't view them as the right player. That's what he means when he talks about "(fighting) off some mistakes from being made" and looking at which traits can be fixed with coaching and which can't.

That also suggests that when O'Connell does find the quarterback he wants — and there's surely at least one or two in this draft — he'll want to be aggressive in going to get that player. In saying that the Vikings just need one team to be complicit, he's obviously referencing the possibility of trading up in the draft next week. Maybe that'll even be with the Patriots for the third overall pick, as he joked about.

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Will Ragatz
WILL RAGATZ