Vikings sign RT Brian O'Neill to five-year, $92.5M extension

On the eve of the regular season, the Vikings locked up a key piece. Minnesota agreed to an extension with offensive tackle Brian O’Neill, the team announced on Wednesday.

It’s a five-year deal worth a whopping $92.5M, Adam Schefter of ESPN.com tweets. That’s an average annual value of $18.5M. He’s still pretty young, so it’s not too surprising to see O’Neill getting top-of-the-market right tackle money. With this new pact, he’s now the second-highest paid right tackle in the league.

O’Neill, a second-round pick back in 2018, previously was set to enter the final year of his rookie deal and become a free agent at the end of the season. The Pittsburgh product had his best year last season and earned pretty strong marks from Pro Football Focus, grading out as their 24th-best overall tackle.

O’Neill became a starter a little over a month into his rookie season and has held on to his job ever since. He started all 16 games last year and won’t turn 26 until next week.

The team drafted Christian Darrisaw in the first round out of Virginia Tech to start opposite O’Neill on Kirk Cousins' blind side. As Darrisaw continues to struggle to recover from core muscle surgery, it looks like Rashod Hill will be starting the season across from O’Neill.