INDIANAPOLIS — Vikings Head Coach Kevin O'Connell and Executive Vice President of Football Operations Rob Brzezinski on Tuesday each spent time holding on-the-record sessions with Twin Cities media members who made the trek to Indianapolis.

Brzezinski was selected by Vikings owners to lead a collaborative effort between coaches and the personnel department as January ended with Minnesota parting ways with former General Manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah after four years.

The separate discussions with media each lasted about 30 minutes. Both began solemnly as each talked about a weekend made extremely difficult by the tragic deaths of receiver Rondale Moore Saturday in his Indiana hometown at age 25 and former defensive back Ronyell Whitaker, who passed away Sunday at age 46.

"The circumstances of Rondale coming to us, getting to know him, and then his first play, essentially, you know, coming off the injury [in 2024 with Atlanta] and then has essentially the same injury in the other knee," O'Connell said. "[He] ends up rehabbing off-site and not really feeling like we could have the same level of impact that we pride ourselves on with our players within our building and the resources that we do have. It feels in many ways from my chair of how I like to make sure that I'm making it about the player, for the player, with the player, and their best interest in mind, it feels like kind of one that got away in many ways for me.

"It's been tough to kind of work through that," O'Connell continued quietly. "Just know that we've got to continue to try to be what we are as an organization, but how do we have that outreach to when they're not either in Minnesota or [during] the offseason? The players … need that time with family. They need that time to decompress with friends and have that time on their own for training. But we do need to try to continue to maximize the great people and the resources we do have, like I said, because it's important for all our players on the roster, practice squad, former players.

"I mean, I think we do a great job with the Legends community of the Minnesota Vikings. We try to bring them back around as much as possible," O'Connell added. "[Former linebacker and Director of Player Development] Jasper Brinkley immediately went down and was with [Moore's] family, which I know they really appreciated. We will continue to support his family and navigate how we operate moving forward to make sure we're doing everything. And we believe we are, but that is a place where we've got to continue to try to find every and all avenues of reaching these guys and making sure even ones that maybe aren't necessarily calling out for help. That's the unique challenges of mental health. We all go through it in some capacity, some way, and to the depths of that, it's very hard to identify and especially with those that maybe aren't necessarily calling out for help, so something that's been on my mind a lot, and it's been a hard few days."

Brzezinski, who has been with the Vikings organization since 1999, overlapped with Whitaker, who played for Minnesota from 2006-07.

"We care a lot about our players, our alumni, and our thoughts and prayers are with their families during this difficult time," Brzezinski said.

Moore is the second player the Vikings have tragically lost from their roster in two years, joining 2024 draft pick Khyree Jackson.

Just like the team and organization supported each other after Jackson's fatal car accident during the summer break between the offseason program and training camp, the Vikings will continue to be present for each other during this time.

Here are three more takeaways from the sessions.

1. Appreciation for having worked with Adofo-Mensah

O'Connell and Brzezinski also shared their appreciation for their time of working with Adofo-Mensah for the past four seasons.

"From the standpoint of my relationship, personally and professionally, with Kwesi was and will always continue to be strong," O'Connell said. "Any thoughts or noise to the contrary of that is not accurate in any way, shape or form.

"Speaking to the timing of it, I just know that our ownership is, I think they're the best owners in sports. I think they're very thorough in their postseason evaluation," O'Connell continued. "They made a decision, an ownership decision at that level. We will press onward, but obviously really, really thankful for my time to work with Kwes' and what we were able to build together here and some of the success that we've had together and obviously the learning moments. I know he's going to continue to go on to great things in his career."

Brzezinski said he wanted to emphasize "what a fabulous human being" Adofo-Mensah is, adding "he had a profound impact on our organization in the time that he was here."

2. Approach to the QBs room

When O'Connell and Adofo-Mensah spoke at their respective end-of-season press conferences in January, they mentioned a desire to make the QB room as competitive as possible with the goals of continuing to develop J.J. McCarthy and provide depth behind the player who started his first 10 career games in 2025 but has dealt with multiple injuries in his first two seasons.

The expressed intent has remained the same as Minnesota gears up for the opening of free agency on March 11 and continues preparation for the 2026 NFL Draft (April 23-25).

"The nature of true competition is I think we're going to try to evaluate all the options that we may have to enhance our quarterback room at the different levels of that, really looking at it from a standpoint of how do we how do we make sure we're elevating that position through the daily [process], every meeting, every walk-through, every practice, having a competitive environment where I think it's going to bring out the best of all those players."

O'Connell noted the traits that McCarthy demonstrated in his first training camp before suffering a torn meniscus in Minnesota's 2024 preseason opener prompted "positive feelings."

"There's been some circumstances that have naturally hurt his chances of having a smooth development phase, but he still has shown a lot of the traits that we feel we can continue to build on," O'Connell said. "The best way to build on those things is having a daily focus of consistency, of needing to be at your best for the other 10 guys in the huddle, and that's not to say be perfect, but that is to say daily growth and daily improvement that will inevitably help not only that player reach his ceiling, but our whole team improve because that position has such an impact on it."

Brzezinski added: "We're focused on competition in that room like we are in every room."

The Vikings will work through scenarios that could include returning veteran Carson Wentz, who started five games after joining the team just before the regular season, earlier in the calendar year, signing a veteran free agent or making a trade to acquire a veteran.

Regardless of the approach, Brzezinski said the team has a "ton of confidence" in McCarthy.

"He's been through a lot of adversity, and guess what? This is a really, really hard job with a lot of pressure," Brzezinski said. "I think even in our organization and with our history, everybody's yearning for that young franchise quarterback, and if I can be candid, I'm not sure it's fair all the time, the pressure and the criticism, because I can tell you, he is a fabulous person. He cares, he works really hard, he wants to be successful and he wants to win."

3. Unified philosophy for shared goal

Known for his savvy at helping the Vikings navigate the salary cap, O'Connell credited Brzezinski's ability to bring people together.

When asked about balancing short-term and long-term decisions, Brzezinski pointed out the approach Minnesota takes this offseason will be to implement the owners' philosophy and fulfilling a desire to bring the elusive championship to the Vikings.

"It's an awesome responsibility," Brzezinski said. "I've been here a long time. I know what this franchise means to our fans, and I just want to be a small part of one day delivering that championship."

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