What Does Ryan Ramczyk's Extension Mean For Brian O'Neill and the Minnesota Vikings?

The top right tackle in the league got paid like it. How close will O'Neill's second contract come to those numbers?

The Saints signed star offensive lineman Ryan Ramczyk to a five-year, $96 million extension on Wednesday, making him the highest paid right tackle in the NFL. It was a well-deserved lucrative second contract for the 2017 first-round pick out of Wisconsin, who has been an elite player since entering the league and has never missed a game due to injury.

What that means for other teams with right tackles coming up on extensions — the Minnesota Vikings being one of them — is that the market has now been set. Players like Brian O'Neill, Taylor Moton, Braden Smith, and Mike McGlinchey aren't going to reach the $19.2 million average annual value that Ramczyk got because they aren't on his level, but this deal could give their agents some additional leverage in negotiations.

Extending O'Neill has to be one of the Vikings' biggest remaining priorities this offseason (along with extending Harrison Smith). He's the best player on a shaky offensive line, a perfect fit in their Dalvin Cook-led running game, and a solid pass protector with room to keep improving in that area. As the final year of his rookie contract approaches, I'd imagine Rick Spielman and company will be deep in talks with the 2018 second-rounder's representation during training camp.

Does Ramczyk's deal change things in that regard? Maybe, maybe not. The difference between the two — which the Vikings could reference when it comes up in negotiations — is that Ramczyk has been an All-Pro in each of the past three seasons, while O'Neill has never made an All-Pro team. O'Neill is a talented player whose best football might still be ahead of him, but he's not a proven elite tackle like Ramczyk at this point. His best season, per PFF, came in 2020, and it wasn't even as good as Ramczyk's worst season (his rookie year in 2017).

Still, O'Neill's camp will try to get as close to Ramczyk's $19.2M AAV as possible on a new deal. Realistically, an extension for O'Neill will fall somewhere in the range of $13M-17M. That would put him shy of Ramczyk and Lane Johnson but still among the highest-paid right tackles in the league, regardless of what the other young crop of RTs receives.

After today, the Vikings may have a harder time keeping that price down, especially considering their lack of leverage due to O'Neill's importance to their offense. It'll be very interesting to see where the AAV number ends up if the two sides are able to get a deal done prior to this season.

Lastly, while we're on the topic of Ramczyk, this is as good a time as any to reminisce on Danielle Hunter beating him multiple times for key sacks in the 2019 wild card round.

With Ryan Ramczyk getting the bag today, here’s a reminder that Danielle Hunter is extremely good at football pic.twitter.com/c3nLqR0All

— Will Ragatz (@WillRagatz) June 30, 2021

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