Kevin O’Connell has addressed the trade rumors surrounding his name while stating he wants to remain with the Minnesota Vikings ahead of their upcoming playoff run.

Over the last few weeks, O’Connell is said to have had garnered interest with team’s wanting to pull off a rare coaching trade, with the 39-year-old having an impressive start to life as a head coach. O’Connell has an incredible 34-17 record since becoming the Vikings’ head coach, leading the team to 14-3 record this season, doing so with his back-up quarterback in Sam Darnold after losing first-round pick JJ McCarthy to a season-ending injury.

Only eight coaches have been traded in NFL history, including Bill Belichick to the New England Patriots, Jon Gruden to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and, most recently, Sean Payton to the Denver Broncos.

Seen as one of the better up-and-coming head coaches in the league, at least five teams will be looking for a new head coach this offseason with O’Connell reportedly drawing interest in the trade market…but that’s not something he’s interested in.

O’Connell told reporters: “I’m not really interested in addressing the rumors or the speculation. What I can tell you is I love this team. I love everything about this organization. This is where I want to be. This is where I want to keep coaching and leading.”

The Vikings’ head coach is contracted through the 2025 season, with the organization’s front office likely to sit down with him at the end of the season to discuss a new deal.

O’Connell is the favorite for Coach of the Year ( 

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FOX Sports’ Jay Glazer first reported the news, when he said: “There’s one candidate out there that’s going to surprise you all, that no one knows is on lists and he is. There are multiple teams that actually are considering trying to trade for Kevin O’Connell.

“And the reason why: Next year, the last year of his deal, [he’s] had no contract talks yet at all. And look, if you’re a team out there saying, ‘Why not take a shot, see if we can do it.’

“Maybe the Vikings don’t let it happen. But also Kevin O’Connell kind of has the card saying, ‘Hey, listen, I’m not going to resign there so you might as well get something for me’. Now, I don’t know because obviously, I don’t think Kevin knows about this right now. But there are multiple teams who have them on that board to say, ‘Let’s at least try and see if we can trade.”