The Vikings have been busy this offseason in terms of maintaining continuity in the front office and on the sidelines. Another piece of business on that front has been taken care of.
An extension agreement was reached on Friday with offensive coordinator Wes Phillips, Ben Goessling of the Minnesota Star Tribune reports. Phillips was set to enter the final season of his deal in 2025. Instead, he is set to remain in place for years to come.
From 2019-21, Phillips and Kevin O’Connell worked together on the Rams’ staff (after previously doing the same in Washington). When the latter landed the Vikings’ head coaching gig, the former followed him to Minnesota in a move which came as little surprise. O’Connell has called plays during his time at the helm, and there is no reason to expect that to change in the wake of his extension. Still, Phillips will be counted on to remain a key figure on the team’s staff.
His 2022 hire marked Phillips’ first OC opportunity at the college or NFL levels. He has enjoyed a strong run so far, with the Vikings posting a top-10 finish in points twice over the past three seasons. The 46-year-old received a three-game suspension from the team in the wake of a December 2023 DWI arrest. Phillips returned to his duties upon serving that punishment, and he will stay in place well beyond 2025 given today’s news.
O’Connell won Coach of the Year honors in 2024 and has earned a reputation as one of the league’s top offensive minds since taking charge of the Vikings. Expectations will remain high in his case for the coming campaign, one in which second-year quarterback J.J. McCarthy will be tasked with handling starting duties. Having missed his entire rookie season due to injury, a steep development curve will be needed if the Vikings are to duplicate their 14-3 season from last year.
Phillips will be a key figure in that respect while also helping to guide an offense featuring multiple additions up front and which returns an impressive array of skill-position players. Another productive outing from the unit will be key, and matching it previous success will help justify the Vikings’ commitment to keeping O’Connell and one of his most important assistants in the fold. Per Goessling, O’Connell advocated for his staff to receive new deals once his extension was in place.
Since then, general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah has also been extended. The 2026 offseason once loomed as a time when plenty of notable changes could have taken place in the organization, but instead the Vikings have elected to keep many of their core staffers in the fold for the foreseeable future. Once his new deal is official, Phillips will join the list of names included in that effort.