O’Neill made the Pro Bowl in 2021 and 2024 when Cousins and Darnold did, too. The athletic tackle earned his top single-season Pro Football Focus pass-blocking grade in that latter campaign (79.7) when he allowed 26 pressures over 647 pass snaps, and none in Weeks 9-12. His encore in 2025 was strong — O’Neill’s 84.5 score as a run blocker represented a new season high — but difficult, as he was limited by injury to parts of 14 games and wound up playing fewer than 800 snaps for the first time in his career.
As good as O’Neill is manning the right flank, his greatest value might be as someone who leads by example and expression on the field and in the locker room. O’Neill was voted a team captain for the first time in 2021 — and every year after that, so far — and has Head Coach Kevin O’Connell’s trust to elevate the club’s culture of smart and tough people who love football and aspire to win championships.
“B.O.” was one of eight NFL finalists for the 2025 Art Rooney Sportsmanship Award, recognizing fair play and respect for the game, which credits his excellent character in positive times and in challenging times.
“It’s hard to express my gratitude for not only the player, (but also) the person,” O’Connell communicated back in December. “What it means in professional sports to be a great sportsman, it’s not just being the nice guy out there. It means you are elite at how you work, how your teammates view you, how your coaches view you, how outside folks, whether it’s other teams, the officials, other coaches — everybody views Brian O’Neill the same way, and it’s been that way for his whole career.”
O’Connell added that O’Neill is “an absolute pillar for our organization,” and emphasized, “he’s quite honestly a guy that needs to be recognized more for not only what he’s meant to our team but the NFL.”
O’Neill is a native of Wilmington, Delaware, and started college as a tight end before transitioning to tackle and blooming into a Third-Team All-ACC choice in 2016 and First-Team selection in 2017. O’Neill notably was a star basketball player at Salesianum High School — teammates with Timberwolves guard Donte DiVincenzo — and he scored two rushing touchdowns (24 and 5 yards) at Pittsburgh. Also, O’Neill topped every OL prospect at the 2018 NFL Scouting Combine with a 40-yard dash time of 4.82 seconds.
O’Neill has handled 96 percent or more of Minnesota’s offensive snaps in six of his eight seasons, including 100 percent in 2021 and 99 percent in 2019, 2020 and 2024.