Brian O’Neill Delivers an Excellent Update Regarding his Week 15 Injury
Brian O’Neill is one of the cornerstone players in Minnesota.
The right tackle is the team’s best offensive lineman when Christian Darrisaw is out, so losing him would be a major hit. Thankfully, the Vikings appear to have avoided a major issue. The veteran lineman had a brief chat with the media following the 30-12 victory, explaining that he should be alright.
Brian O’Neill Delivers an Excellent Update
The conversation with the media lasted for just a couple minutes, but O’Neill was able to offer some excellent news.
When asked about his leg, O’Neill was optimistic: “Pretty good. It’s probably going to be sore, but everything checked out OK, structurally good. So, be ready to roll. I don’t think it’s going to be anything.” He went on to say that “it’s Monday Night Football against the Bears” so he was just going to play through the pain as long as there wasn’t a serious injury. Somewhat humorously, O’Neill quipped that it felt like there was “about seven pounds of tape on this thing, I was like yelling at them to hurry up.”
Kevin O’Connell spoke about the injury, as well. Safe to say the head coach passed along some cautious optimism.
“Yeah, he was able to come back,” O’Connell explained, “got his knee evaluated there, and ended up getting taped up and came back in the game. We felt it a little bit. We’re already down one tackle. To have B.O. go in and get evaluated, we wanted to make sure he was OK to return, which he was.”
O’Connell then went on to discuss how the team “will see how he does” before offering praise: “Brian O’Neill once again just showing what he’s all about, going back in there and playing really good football.”
Back in the 2018 NFL Draft, O’Neill got snagged with the No. 62 pick. The thinking at the time was that he would need a bit of time to develop, but he ended up playing quite a bit as a rookie. Even better, O’Neill performed well in his fifteen games played and eleven starts.
Since then, O’Neill has been a mainstay at tackle. The offensive lines haven’t always been good in these past years, but the right tackle has been an excellent starting point. Adding Darrisaw into the mix from the 2021 NFL Draft gave the Vikings one of the NFL’s top tackle tandems.
The 29-year-old lineman is a team captain and working within his seventh NFL season. His leadership and strong play are foundational to what the Vikings are looking to accomplish.
Editor’s Note: Information from Pro Football Reference helped with this piece.
K. Joudry is the Senior Editor for Vikings Territory and PurplePTSD. He has been covering the Vikings full time since the summer of 2021. He can be found on Twitter, as a co-host for Notes from the North, and as the proprietor at The Vikings Gazette, a humble Vikings Substack.
