The Brian O’Neill Injury Update
Losing Brian O’Neill stings. Losing 24-21 — a surprisingly close margin given how poorly Minnesota played for a large portion of the game — may have come down to missing the stud at right tackle.
After the Steelers loss, Kevin O’Connell stepped in front of the microphone to chat with the media. O’Connell does a good job of keeping everyone updated on injury concerns; his Week 4 post-game presser followed that pattern. O’Neill’s injury is to his knee with the initial focus being on his MCL.
The Brian O’Neill Injury Update
Already down LG1 Donovan Jackson, O’Neill went down and so, too, did starting center Ryan Kelly.
Kick it over to O’Connell to clarify where things stood immediately after the game: “Brian O’Neill will have an MRI tonight [on] his knee. Ryan Kelly did get put in the, or he was out with a concussion.” There was then clarity that Carson Wentz got poked in the eye.
The first question asked about the level of worry with O’Neill.
“I was out there when they evaluated him,” O’Connell explained. “Don’t want to get too far ahead from a standpoint of what it might be, but it sounded like they were talking about his MCL. So that’s one they’ll have to evaluate. I know he was trying to do everything in his power to tape it up to see if he could go.”
Someone who operates at O’Neill’s level simply can’t be replaced.
Justin Skule was added during the offseason to make the team’s OT3 spot more promising. Recently, the team had been leaning on resilient veteran David Quessenberry for that spot, but the decision was to chase youthful upside during the offseason. Skule may be a decent depth player, but leaning on him on a weekly basis is going to lead to issues.
At present, the perspective is an incomplete one.
What’s known is that Brian O’Neill is a great right tackle. He hurt is knee during the Week 4 Dublin game and was subtracted from the lineup for the remainder of the day. Per O’Connell, there was some desire from the player to attempt a return, but that didn’t come to fruition. The Vikings followed the well-worn path of being cautious with player injuries.
More medical tests are going to be done to determine the precise nature of the injury and what the recovery timeline looks like moving forward.
Skule stepped into the vacancy at RT1. Presumably, he would be the one who gets the nod yet again if O’Neill needs time off.
Even something that was deemed short-term in nature could result in not having O’Neill for Week 5. After all, the Vikings will get a built-in rest week afterwards due to the arrival of the bye in Week 6. Letting Brian O’Neill soak up multiple weeks of rest — again, if his knee only succumbed to a minor injury, as everyone hopes — would appear to be wise.
Regardless of whether the knee injury sidelines O’Neill for a short- or long-term time frame, the Vikings may opt to start Walter Rouse. The sophomore tackle was snagged in the 6th of the 2024 NFL Draft and has generated plenty of optimism in the Twin Cities. Perhaps the move is to lean on a young guy to settle into the opening. Curiously, Rouse didn’t dress for the game versus Pittsburgh.
A small chance exists that Blake Brandel could get a look, but he’s filling in at guard.
Brian O’Neill, 30, stands at 6’7″ and weighs 310 pounds. The team captain will be missed if he is forced to step away to get healthy.
