Vikings roster preview: Can Brian O’Neill stay healthy, return to top-10 form?

As we head towards a new season, Inside the Vikings is taking a look at each member of the 53-man roster to recap their 2023-24 season and look ahead to the upcoming campaign. Today, we start with right tackle Brian O’Neill.

The Minnesota Vikings will have a new quarterback and lead running back this season but return the same top five offensive linemen, including right tackle Brian O’Neill.

O’Neill, who will turn 29 in September, has been a mainstay on the right side of Minnesota’s O-line since he was drafted in the second round in 2018. In his six years in purple and gold, he’s appeared in 93 regular-season games, starting all but four of those games (all four during his rookie season), and two playoff games, proving to be quite durable.

However, he partially tore his right Achilles in the penultimate game of the 2022 regular season and missed three of the last four games last season with what was initially called a left ankle sprain. O’Neill later revealed the injury to be a foot fracture.

When healthy, O’Neill has established himself as one of the best right tackles in the league, grading in the top-35 of all offensive tackles every season except his rookie year, according to PFF.

He was named to the Pro Bowl in 2021 and turned in his highest-graded year in 2022, when PFF rated him the eighth-best tackle in the entire NFL.

Last season, PFF gave him a 71.7 run block grade, 73.4 pass block grade and 74.5 overall offense grade. Those ranked 24th, 25th and 24th, respectively, among all NFL tackles last season. PFF also says he gave up six sacks last season (tied for 15th-most) and was called for eight penalties (tied for 20th-most) while giving up just two other quarterback hits but 33 pressures in 884 snaps.

For comparison, PFF says he also gave up six sacks, 24 pressures, five hits and was called for five penalties in 2022 — his highest-graded year — while he gave up just one sack, 22 pressures, two hits and was called for five penalties in 2021 but had a much lower run blocking (and overall) grade.

The hope this season is that O’Neill can stay healthy for the entirety of the year, which is no easy task, and up his game yet again.

When he and left tackle Christian Darrisaw are on the field, the Vikings’ offensive line is a solid group. When one or both are out, the unit isn’t nearly as effective and grades out as one of the worst in the league.

Unlike Darrisaw, O’Neill is signed through the 2026 season and is scheduled to make about $15 million this year, the ninth-most among right tackles in the NFL, although his cap number of nearly $23 million ranks third-highest, per Over the Cap.

However, the Vikings still have plenty of cap room and if O’Neill is healthy and playing like he has in the past, he’ll be well worth it for the Vikings and will play a big role in helping Minnesota’s offense perform with the new personnel behind him.

Sep 14, 2023; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA; Minnesota Vikings offensive tackle Brian O'Neill (75) blocks against the Philadelphia Eagles at Lincoln Financial Field. Eric Hartline-USA TODAY Sports