EAGAN, Minn. — It's one of Kevin O'Connell's "favorite days of the year."

Players, including star receiver Justin Jefferson, arrived Monday at Twin Cities Orthopedics Performance Center to participate in the first phase of the voluntary offseason training program. The Vikings head coach ushered in the new year, three days before the 2026 NFL Draft, with an admittedly "long-winded" address during a team meeting this morning and a session with local reporters several hours afterward.

"Phase 1 is always an interesting thing because you're so excited to get them all back here," he said.

O'Connell, who is entering his fifth season at the helm of the franchise and is finalizing the club's pre-draft work alongside Executive Vice President of Football Operations Rob Brzezinski, answered questions about select players and outlined the intent of the next nine weeks — a springboard for the summer.

"Really, it's about kind of the grassroots of the position rooms — coaches being able to establish their rooms. And then it's a big time for [Head Strength Coach] Joe [Distor, Jr.] and his staff, [Vice President, Player Health and Performance] Tyler [Williams] and his staff, to really kind of calibrate each individual guy's performance plan and the things that we want to try to accomplish," O'Connell said, noting the focus begins with weight lifting and agility training and then transitions into position-specific drills and unit-specific philosophies. "Nowadays, these guys come in, in great shape. They come in on the heels of the work they do wherever they call home. Many of them have been here for the majority of the offseason, and now it's just a matter of getting to do it in a little bit more of a structured, formal setting."

O'Connell pointed out his preference is to give players three-and-a-half day weekends right now, so they're able to continue spending time with family and can stay in Minnesota or travel if that's desired. The primary goal is to "be real purposeful with everything that we do, everything we ask of our players" in the steps from Phase 1 to Phase 2 and the eventual gathering of the whole group after Memorial Day.

"I told the team this morning, we have a foundation built culturally, football-wise, but these nine weeks are about raising that foundation to a higher level because then you can start having a conversation about your ceiling as a football team when training camp comes around and what you inevitably have to, in a short amount of time, prepare your team to become," O'Connell commented. "But for right now, it's about that foundation — details, little things — where we don't have an opponent to put stress on us from a standpoint of a scoreboard or a gotta-have-it situation. We've got ourselves, and we've got to maximize every single day and make sure when our players leave here, especially in a voluntary program where you're really asking a lot out of many of these guys to be here away from their families and things like that, you've got to make it worthwhile. You've got to give them every tool, every resource, every ounce of coaching that we have — and also give them the runway to grow every single day as players."

Here are four more takeaways from O'Connell's session with Twin Cities media members:

1. Involving 'Jets'

Jefferson's attendance was a welcome sight, but not unsurprising as he is entering Year 7.

O'Connell said "his leadership spoke for itself a year ago" when he was asked about the significance of Jefferson being present on the first day. (Jefferson answered questions at the podium before O'Connell.)

"I spend so much time with Justin, and I'm sure he gets tired of seeing my name come up on his cell phone. When he doesn't answer, I text him. And when he doesn't answer my texts, I call him. So we got a nice little sequence going," O'Connell quipped. "But I get him every now and again, and when I do, he knows how much he means to me. … As he continues to ascend, really as the face of our franchise, he continues to understand the weight of that and the weight of the office — I want him to have an impact.

"I want him to feel like he's involved with the things that we decide to do as our team," O'Connell continued about the NFL record-annihilating, 26-year-old team captain. "I think he's earned the right to be a part of those conversations, and I enjoy the heck out of having them with him. And I know everybody was excited to see him here today, and as busy as he is, and in as many directions as he gets pulled, for him to make it a priority to be here today and be here this week to kick things off is massive."

Jefferson spoke about incorporating some throwing sessions in Minnesota with rising third-year quarterback J.J. McCarthy, which supported O'Connell's perception that an uptick of players have opted to stay in Minnesota throughout his time here, in large part because of the in-house benefits available.

"I would just tip my cap to all of our resources on the first floor," O'Connell said. "One of the things that I was really interested to get feedback on after the season was just after a full offseason, training camp and season being with those guys in the strength and conditioning program — and Joe, I mean, I know surveys get thrown out a lot around in different parts of the NFL, but one thing that came back crystal clear to me was our players are ecstatic about Joe and that staff in there, and I think it's a credit to those guys, how they've been able to make [it] a team environment in there, but yet players feel like they've got individual programs — ways that I personally have a direct path to getting to where I want to get to."

2. Synergy with Brzezinski

In addition to superstar player and head coach, Brzezinski addressed the media Monday and offered gratitude for the many, many people who have supported him as he headed up prepwork for the draft.

(We'll take a look Tuesday at Brzezinski's final thoughts as Minnesota prepares to maximize nine picks.)

O'Connell reflected on a very collaborative past couple of months and expressed similar sentiments.

"First and foremost with Rob, I joke with him all the time, like, he has been so impactful on me over my time here from, really, Day 1," O'Connell said with a smile. "My relationship with him is so strong. He's such a good person. He's had the ability over these few weeks and couple months here to really show some high-, high-quality leadership traits, bringing people together — personnel, coaches, scouts — everybody coming together to have really, really good dialogue and really, really good back-and-forth."

O'Connell alluded to the Vikings coaches and personnel staff agreeing in their evals of draft prospects, but even when consensus is lacking, they've reached "good outcomes" thanks to Brzezinski's leadership.

"It's been really fun to support him throughout that and really dive into this year's draft class and even beyond that, free agency," O'Connell said of the long-time exec. "We're all really excited for this week."

3. Addison's fifth-year option

O'Connell succinctly laid out why Minnesota is picking up the fifth-year option on its other super talented wideout, Jordan Addison. First, his skills are unmistakable. Second, his maturation is evident.

"From a talent standpoint and his impact, it was really felt immediately when Jordan first arrived here and what he's brought to our offense and his ability to really dynamically complement Justin," O'Connell remarked. "I view Jordan as one of the top-tier, quote-unquote, if you want to call him No. 2s in the league. And that's not in any way, shape or form negative when you're talking about that other guy being Justin Jefferson. But the other part of it with Jordan is just our relationship and where it's gotten to.

"He was an incredibly young player when he got into the NFL (21 years old), and he's learned some lessons over the years," O'Connell added of the now-24-year-old who's scored 24 total touchdowns in 46 games. "And I think he understands it's a critical time in his career, his ability to have an impact doing what he loves, which is playing football — loves playing football as much as anybody we have in this organization. But we need to make sure that he understands where he's at now and the growth and all those things and what that equals. And I think he does, and I'm excited to get going with him this year."

4. On 'J.G.' and 'The Hitman'

O'Connell was asked about two core Vikings who were absent Monday: Jonathan Greenard, who has been the subject of external trade rumors, and Harrison Smith, who was designated as a post-June 1 cut to help the team clear salary cap space ahead of free agency and is contemplating retirement or Year 15.

About the former, O'Connell referenced speaking with him last week and their strong relationship.

"He's been so impactful for me personally, as one of our leaders," O'Connell stated. "He knows exactly how I feel about him, how we feel about him as an organization, and I'll continue to have that dialogue and ongoing dialogue as we move forward. But it's been good, and I think Jonathan's really respected at least the point of view that our dialogue brings and the clarity. He knows I'm always a phone call away."

Brzezinski responded to the Greenard query, as well, and expressed he expects J.G. to be a Viking: "There's conversations that take place with respect to players all the time on rosters. And for some reason, sometimes some things get public and other times they don't," he said. "But, you know, he's a really good player and a special person and a leader. And we're really happy he's a part of our team."

Talks with Smith are less about football for the time being and more about life beyond the gridiron.

"It's been a few days, but now that you remind me, I'll probably bug him today," O'Connell joked about hitting up the 37-year-old icon, adding Smith's decision has no effect on draft plans. "It's something [where] we're still trying to give Harrison as much space as possible, and I think he's earned that. If it's anything at this point, it's seeing how he's doing, seeing how his family is, seeing how his golf game is."

View 2026 Free Agency Tracker.

See the Vikings 2026 Opponents.

Check out the Vikings 2026 Draft Picks.

View future opponents for the Vikings.

Buy single game tickets.

Download the official Vikings App.