{"id":63851,"date":"2025-05-20T02:47:19","date_gmt":"2025-05-20T02:47:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/63851\/"},"modified":"2025-05-20T02:47:19","modified_gmt":"2025-05-20T02:47:19","slug":"kevin-oconnell-was-literally-dreaming-about-adding-1-player","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/63851\/","title":{"rendered":"Kevin O’Connell Was Literally Dreaming About Adding 1 Player"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"Feb 6, 2025; New Orleans, LA, USA; Minnesota Vikings coach Kevin O’Connell poses with the Coach of the Year award during Super Bowl LIX NFL Honors at Saenger Theatre. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-Imagn Images\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

The Minnesota Vikings have had a fun offseason, considering all the new guys who have been signed. General manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah once again knocked free agency out of the park, as various prominent newcomers joined the club. <\/p>\n

Kevin O\u2019Connell Was Literally Dreaming About Adding 1 Player<\/p>\n

Just as important is to find some contributors in the draft, and hopefully, some long-term assets as well. <\/p>\n

\"kevinOhio State Buckeyes offensive lineman Donovan Jackson (74) holds the trophy following the 34-23 win over the Notre Dame Fighting Irish to win the College Football Playoff National Championship at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta on Jan. 21, 2025.<\/p>\n

The Vikings released their annual draft mini-film. First-rounder Donovan Jackson and the process ahead of the pick, of course, played a big role in the documentary<\/a>. <\/p>\n

The video shows Adofo-Mensah on the phone saying, \u201cI might also just stay and pick.\u201d On the other end of the call might have been another GM who wanted to trade for the 24th overall pick. <\/p>\n

After hanging up, he turned to head coach Kevin O\u2019Connell and senior VP Ryan Grigson, pointing presumably at a board with the trade offer(s), saying: \u201cIf it\u2019s Donovan or that, we talked about these scenarios, but I just want to come back to you guys all beforehand and say same page or if you want to take the risk and go back.\u201d<\/p>\n

That indicates Minnesota\u2019s intention to draft Jackson wasn\u2019t a spontaneous decision whatsoever and was likely the plan all along. Once the Vikes were on the clock, Adofo-Mensah wanted to check in with his wingmen whether they would pick the offensive guard out of Ohio State or prefer a trade, which risks losing him to another team. Adofo-Mensah later added, \u201cIf we go back, you got to treat it like he\u2019s not going to be there.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s unlikely that Jackson would\u2019ve been available later in the draft. The Texans were next on the clock, and their starting guard entering the draft was Ed Ingram, who the Vikings gladly shipped there. <\/p>\n

\"NFL:Dec 10, 2023; Paradise, Nevada, USA; Minnesota Vikings coach Kevin O\u2019Connell (left) and general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah react during the game against the Minnesota Vikings at Allegiant Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports<\/p>\n

In another scene, O\u2019Connell said to Adofo-Mensah, \u201cI had a dream last night we drafted him.\u201d <\/p>\n

Unless the Vikings\u2019 media team used some shady cutting techniques, they talked about Jackson. <\/p>\n

That Jackson was clearly their guy becomes more evident in another scene, when a nervous Adofo-Mensah says, \u201cThere\u2019s a chance the Packers take Donovan. That\u2019s like the big risk, so we just got to be ready.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Packers were slotted right ahead of the Vikings and selected Matthew Golden, a wideout, to end the WR drought. The Vikings then went ahead and snapped their own drought. Randall McDaniel, in 1988, was Minnesota\u2019s last first-round guard. <\/p>\n

\"\"Ohio State Buckeyes wide receiver Jeremiah Smith (4) celebrates with offensive lineman Donovan Jackson (74) after a touchdown catch against the Notre Dame Fighting Irish in the first quarter during the College Football Playoff National Championship at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta on January 20, 2025.<\/p>\n

After Adofo-Mensah sent the pick in, he put college scout Jake Essler on the spot, who described the newest Viking: \u201cDonovan is a great kid, awesome to be around. He was up here for [the] top-30 [visit] and I think he\u2019s gonna fit the locker room really well. As a player, this guy is a three-year starter at left guard, had to move to left tackle this year. He\u2019s big, tough, strong. He\u2019s gonna fit in really well.\u201d<\/p>\n

O\u2019Connell declared in a video the Vikings released a few weeks ago that was part of the documentary: \u201cVery excited to welcome him to the Minnesota Vikings. What are we getting? We\u2019re getting a big, strong, physical player that comes from a national championship team. Started over 40 games at Ohio State, [he is] incredibly fitting for the group we\u2019ve put together on the offensive line.\u201d<\/p>\n

That group will be fun to monitor throughout the offseason and when the bullets start flying in the regular season. On the outside, the Vikings have been set with Brian O\u2019Neill and Christian Darrisaw, but the group\u2019s interior has left a lot to be desired. <\/p>\n

\"\"Ohio State Buckeyes offensive lineman Donovan Jackson (74) celebrates a touchdown by TreVeyon Henderson during the NCAA football game against the Indiana Hoosiers at Ohio Stadium in Columbus on Monday, Nov. 25, 2024. Ohio State won 38-15.<\/p>\n

For the first time in a while, the Vikings have done whatever it takes to fix the issue. Ryan Kelly and Will Fries were hired in free agency, and Jackson in the draft. Young quarterback J.J. McCarthy should enjoy the best protection the Vikings have had in a long time. <\/p>\n

The video also features a short statement of the rookie: \u201cThe team culture with the Vikings, I\u2019ve heard, is very tight-knit, very disciplined, and it\u2019s a culture that I\u2019m blessed to be a part of. I\u2019m just looking forward to getting to work with everybody.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jackson is 22 years old and has all the tools to be a long-term starter at the left guard position. He will compete with Blake Brandel<\/a>, last year\u2019s starter at that spot, at first, but will get every opportunity to win the competition. <\/p>\n

\"Another<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Feb 6, 2025; New Orleans, LA, USA; Minnesota Vikings coach Kevin O’Connell poses with the Coach of the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":63852,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2073],"tags":[1490,7,233,259,2529,6,234],"class_list":{"0":"post-63851","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-minnesota-vikings","8":"tag-donovan-jackson","9":"tag-football","10":"tag-minnesota","11":"tag-minnesota-vikings","12":"tag-minnesotavikings","13":"tag-nfl","14":"tag-vikings"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/114537879659333099","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63851","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=63851"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63851\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/63852"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=63851"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=63851"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=63851"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}