Kevin O'Connell will head into contract negotiations with all the leverage

Kevin O'Connell will coach in a rare winner-take-most game on Sunday night, when his Minnesota Vikings will visit the Detroit Lions for the No. 1 seed in the NFC playoffs.

Win or lose, he'll find himself in a rare position. He's an on-the-rise coach with a soon-to-expire contract and lots of leverage, depending on how he wants to deploy it.

Fox's Jay Glazer reported Sunday "multiple teams" are considering piecing together trade offers for O'Connell, due to his contract expiring after the 2025 season. 

For the record, there's no indication O'Connell is unhappy in Minnesota or trying to force his way out.

“We’re looking forward to a great future with these guys,” Vikings owner Mark Wilf recently told the St. Paul Pioneer Press in reference to O'Connell and GM Kwesi Adofo-Mensah. “We look forward to having those conversations with each of them after the season. We have tremendous confidence, and we look forward to their continued leadership of the franchise.”

However, O'Connell will go into those negotiations with tremendous leverage. At 39 years old, he's 34-16 as a head coach with, at minimum, two playoff trips in three seasons. The Vikings won the NFC North and were upset by the New York Giants in the wild card round in 2022, slipped to 7-10 in 2023, and this season are the feel-good story of the NFL, sitting at 14-2 behind Comeback Player of the Year candidate Sam Darnold at quarterback heading into Sunday night's game in Detroit.

O'Connell is essentially a made man already, and will become even more secure the further the Vikings advance in the playoffs.

Once the season ends and O'Connell's reps sit down with the Wilfs, the O'Connell camp can ask for the proverbial moon, knowing that if they don't get it, the Vikings would be inclined to trade him rather than risk losing him for nothing in free agency after the 2025 season.

We'll see how it all plays out, but it's a fascinating subplot to an NFL coaching carousel that will get spinning in the coming days.

As always, stay tuned to The Scoop for the latest.