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Kevin O'Connell expects Jonathan Greenard to be with Vikings in 2026
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- Kevin O'Connell expects Jonathan Greenard to be with Vikings in 2026
The Vikings were open to trading Jonathan Greenard this offseason, but the edge rusher remains a part of the team. Head coach Kevin O'Connell sounds as if he expects Greenard to be with the Vikings for a third season, though he didn't completely close the door on a trade.
"Yeah, I expect him to be part of our team," O'Connell said Monday at the NFL owners meetings. "I know there's always conversations. There's conversations this week. There's conversations throughout the offseason, and we'll continue to kind of attack things at the different phases. We're getting ready to really jump heavily into draft meetings when we get back. But at the same time, we're always going to try to do what's best for our team and also what we think is best for each one of our individual players. And that's an ongoing thing throughout every offseason."
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Greenard is set to carry a $22.15 million cap number in 2026, which is why the Vikings are open to moving him.
He is working his way back from shoulder surgery, which ended Greenard's season after 12 games. Greenard made three sacks, 10 tackles for loss and 12 quarterback hits in 2025.
Greenard's recovery is "on track," O'Connell said.
"I would just say, I'm excited about Jonathan Greenard in Year 3 with us and excited about where our team's going to go with him as a big part of our defense," O'Connell said. "The business side of the NFL gets talked about a lot, but my role and the importance of the relationship side of things will always be paramount with all of our players, especially one of my captains like J.G."
