The Colts and Braden Smith agreed on a contract extension this week that continued a trend of right tackles cashing in this offseason.
Deals for the Saints’ Ryan Ramczyk and the Panthers’ Taylor Moton came together before Smith’s agreement and all of the developments have landed on the radar of Vikings right tackle Brian O’Neill. The 2018 second-round pick is in the final year of his rookie contract and said Thursday that he’s taken note of the rising compensation for his peers around the league.
For now, that’s all he’s doing because he’s keeping his attention on the field while his agents take care of negotiations on his next contract.
“My focus is 100 percent on football this whole camp, this whole week,” O’Neil said, via Chris Tomasson of the Pioneer Press. “There’s people that handle that -- the front office here, and my agent -- so it’ll play itself out. I want to be here, I love it here, and we’ve got to finish what we started.”
Vikings coach Mike Zimmer said that the team would love to get a deal done with O’Neill, who has started 44 games between the regular season and postseason. That just leaves the not insignificant task of finding the right number for both sides.