EAGAN — Maybe you’ve heard: Minnesota Vikings wide receivers haven’t always been happy.
They seemed pretty thrilled on Tuesday though.
When it comes to Justin Jefferson and Adam Thielen’s first comments about their impressions of Kevin O’Connell, everything was bound to come across like a criticism of Mike Zimmer because of the number of frustrated Pro Bowl receivers who played for the Vikings during the Zimmer era — present parties included along with Mike Wallace, Cordarrelle Patterson and Stefon Diggs.
It’s Kevin O’Connell’s job to change that.
Jefferson and Thielen are among the players with the most to gain from the hire of an offensive head coach who is coming off a Super Bowl victory on the back of a high-powered passing attack that ranked No. 1 in the NFL in passing Expected Points Added. Neither player shied away from acknowledging it when they spoke at TCO Performance Center on Tuesday.
“Seeing what [Rams receiver] Cooper Kupp did last year, him getting close to the record, him being so open so many times, there’s a lot of things on film that I watched and looked at and I’m excited about this year,” Jefferson said. “Even being in the meetings with [O’Connell] and him talking over schemes and different things he did with the Rams and things he’s planning on doing with us, it’s very exciting. I’m definitely excited to start the season – right now.”
Jefferson didn’t even set the day’s high for using “excited” in that answer (Thielen had nine uses in a single response). He noted that part of his enthusiasm for O’Connell comes because of the belief that the new head coach can combat the growing attention from defenses as they design their gameplans to stop him.
“There’s a target on my back at this point,” Jefferson said. “I’m planning on keeping on going up. They’re always going to have players in the league that are going to try and stop me and what we’ve got going on. Really just buy in to what Coach KO has got for us, putting me in different positions to get me open.”
The more O’Connell can scheme Jefferson open, the more the ball can come in his direction and while Jefferson has started his career as well as any receiver in history statistically, the offensive philosophy always started with Dalvin Cook and the running game under Zimmer. The star receivers often left US Bank Stadium feeling like there was something left on the table with the passing game.
“I never had an offensive coach so just seeing the difference between a defensive coach and an offensive coach,” Jefferson said. “Coach [O’Connell] pretty much runs the meetings. Zim didn’t run our meetings. The OC ran it. That’s just the difference between that offensive chemistry and defensive chemistry.”
Jefferson also said he feels that having a coach who was born in the 80s might help everyone connect better. He praised O’Connell’s “younger vibe” and noted that the new guy wearing the HC hat plays music in the locker room and meeting rooms and has quickly created a “laid back” atmosphere.
“It’s about having fun doing what we love to do and coming focus,” Jefferson said.
In contrast, Zimmer didn’t want the TVs or fireplaces in the locker room to be turned on because he felt that was too cushy for the ballplayers.
Thielen was more specific about his early impressions of the offense, saying that the scheme appears to be less rigid than in previous years.
“I think some of the route stuff is more player-friendly probably, just to be able to kind of just go out there and feel the game, play the game, there’s a lot more feel to it, rather than, ‘You gotta do this at this point, at this time,’” Thielen said. “What I’ve seen from afar, it’s definitely an offense that kind of just lets their players do what they do well and go and try to beat the coverage that they’re throwing at us.”
Last year one of the most discussed topics surrounding the offense was the amount of flexibility quarterback Kirk Cousins had at the line of scrimmage. Nobody said definitively that Cousins was restricted but there were plenty of hints and implications that was the case under Klint Kubiak. Thielen revealed that Cousins will have more command under his new coach.
“I think there is going to be… a couple different reads depending on the coverage and then maybe more flexibility for Kirk to make different calls at the line of scrimmage depending on what coverage we’re getting,” Thielen said. “I think there’s a little bit more freedom in his hands to get us in the best position to have success.”
Over the last three seasons, the Vikings rank 26th in total pass attempts. O’Connell’s former team in Los Angeles has the seventh most. The Vikings’ two star receivers are hoping that closing that gap with new ideas will take them farther than their usual middle-of-the-pack finish on offense.
“Just because you have change doesn’t mean you’re going to have success, so we’ve got to put the work in, and we have to understand that,” Thielen said. “There’s still a long ways to go but definitely excited.”
