Wednesday afternoon brought the first news that the Minnesota Vikings had an extension for right tackle Brian O’Neill budgeted into their future plans.

“Brzezinski said last month that he envisioned the Vikings as a franchise that looks to ‘draft and develop and to retain our core, and supplement in free agency,’” ESPN’s Kevin Seifert said. “That served as a reminder that teams don’t just use cap space on free agency, but also — and often more importantly — on signing their existing players to contract extensions. Right tackle Brian O’Neill and receiver Jordan Addison are among the upcoming deals the Vikings have budgeted for.”

It’s the first time we’ve heard about the O’Neill extension that everyone universally believes should happen, especially with a cap hit of $23.11 million in 2026. He only has $3.7 million in prorated signing bonus left, meaning they can maneuver with around $18.1 million with a new contract.

Crafting a Brian O’Neill extension is a difficult task

Finding a way to craft an extension for O’Neill is a tough one, because there are a lot of different factors you didn’t have five years ago when they signed him to his first extension worth $18.5 million per year. O’Neill is going into his age 32 season and has suffered multiple injuries to his lower half, including a partially torn Achilles in 2022.

As things currently sit, O’Neill is the 23rd-highest-paid tackle by average annual value and the eighth-highest-paid right tackle.

The tackle market has certainly gone up a significant amount since O’Neill signed his last extension, which will give him a substantial raise. Over the last five seasons, O’Neill hasn’t had a PFF grade under 73.4 and allowed more than 30 pressures just once, with 33 in 2023, and he was coming off of his torn Achilles tendon.

O’Neill has been a very solid player for the Vikings in his nine seasons, but the extension will start in his age 33 season, which is going to somewhat limit what he gets. Plus, it’s highly unlikely that O’Neill gets paid more than his teammate, Christian Darrisaw, who is the seventh-highest-paid offensive tackle.

Looking at the top right tackle contracts, which is how O’Neill will be judged with his extension, it’s very likely he will be a top-five paid right tackle. Will he be paid more than Lane Johnson, who is being paid an average of $25 million? I doubt it, especially since O’Neill isn’t better than Johnson, who might be the best offensive tackle to have ever played football.

The starting point is the extension that Tytus Howard just got, which was $22.5 million over two seasons, or a three-year, $63 million contract overall. O’Neill is certainly better than Howard, and I would rank him at third among right tackles in the NFL, of those who are extension eligible. Joe Alt of the Los Angeles Chargers is one player who has a good argument for being better than O’Neill, but he isn’t eligible for an extension until January.

That would put O’Neill’s value between $22.5 million and $25 million per year, which is more than fair for an elite right tackle. The Vikings have plenty of salary cap space in 2027 and 2028, plus a contract extension will free up salary this year. The below prediction will make O’Neill the third-highest paid right tackle and 10th-highest overall offensive tackle in terms of average annual value, and create over $15 million in salary cap space.

Contract prediction: Three years, $72 million, $48 million guaranteed

Year	Base Salary	Prorated Signing Bonus	Per Game Roster Bonus	Workout Bonus	Guaranteed Salary	Cap Number
2026	$1,300,000	$7,703,892	$0	$	$1,300,000	$8,003,892
2027	$14,400,000	$4,000,000	$500,000	$100,000	$15,000,000	$19,000,000
2028	$26,400,000	$4,000,000	$500,000	$100,000	$11,700,000	$31,000,000
2029	$26,400,000	$4,000,000	$500,000	$100,000	$0	$31,000,000
2030	Void	$4,000,000	Void	Void	Void	$4,000,000
2031	Void	$0	Void	Void	Void	$0
2032	Void	$0	Void	Void	Void	$0
Total	$68,500,000	$23,703,892	$1,500,000	$300,000	$28,000,000	$93,003,892