Vikings tackle Brian O’Neill has sprained knee; J.J. McCarthy could return to practice

WARE, ENGLAND — Right tackle Brian O’Neill, who exited the Vikings’ loss to the Steelers on Sunday with a knee injury, has a sprained MCL and will miss at least this week’s game against the Browns in London, coach Kevin O’Connell said Tuesday.

O’Connell, speaking at Hanbury Manor, the team’s hotel, said injured reserve is not necessary “at this point” for O’Neill, because of the team’s upcoming bye next week. An IR stint requires a minimum four-game absence.

The Vikings were just relieved O’Neill avoided a “serious” knee injury, O’Connell said, after going down in the first quarter against the Steelers. O’Neill had played 11 snaps on offense and lined up for his first special teams rep, a 41-yard field goal by kicker Will Reichard, when he was injured.

“When you first go out there as a head coach and see him down like that,” O’Connell said, “you’re glad you can rule out a lot of those other things.”

O’Neill remains with the team after Monday’s trip from Dublin to London for the NFL’s first international commute in back-to-back weeks. This week, the 30-year-old team captain only has to walk down the halls of Hanbury Manor to find the training staff’s room for his daily physical rehab.

“He’s doing his rehab where he sleeps,” O’Connell said. “Then during the bye week, we’ll get him [rehabbing] wherever we can and we’ll see where he’s at.”

The Vikings signed former North Dakota offensive tackle Matt Waletzko, who is from Cold Spring and attended Rocori High, to their practice squad. He spent three seasons with the Cowboys after being drafted by Dallas in the fifth round in 2022. The Vikings released receiver Tim Jones to make room for Waletzko.

“He’s feeling like he’s progressing,” O’Connell said, “but we’re evaluating every avenue and all options to get him feeling 100% and back out there.”

Quarterback J.J. McCarthy, who has missed the last two games with a sprained right ankle, could resume practicing later this week. Quarterback Carson Wentz will continue running the first-team offense and is expected to make his third Vikings start on Sunday.

O’Connell said McCarthy’s practice reps will depend on him physically reaching “benchmarks of being able to go out there and start moving around a little bit.”

“As we get into Thursday, Friday, hoping to at least get him out there, and get him taking some drops and starting to get back into the normal rhythm of the practice week,” O’Connell said.

Two players dealing with knee injuries, fullback C.J. Ham and outside linebacker Tyler Batty, will return to practice Wednesday, opening their three-week practice windows while on IR. O’Connell said both could return to action as early as Sunday.

Saleh explained that pupils of Rams coach Sean McVay, like O’Connell and Jaguars head coach Liam Coen, operate the offenses at the line of scrimmage in such a way that baits defenses into tipping their hand before the snap through certain formations and pre-snap motions.

But the words “signal stealing” make for salacious headlines.

“Here I am just trying to fly to Ireland,” O’Connell said Tuesday. “I got enough things to worry about. I’ve had some text dialogue with some of the folks involved on both sides. I think it was meant to be a compliment at first and meant to be something, like, ‘We want you to know that we know.’”

“Robert Saleh is a good friend of mine,” O’Connell added. “As friendly as we are, I would not want him mad at me.”

The Vikings are expecting a more playable turf at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium after playing on a brand new field (and under light rain) in last year’s win against the Jets.

Even while receiver Justin Jefferson lost his footing at one point in the loss to the Steelers, O’Connell commended the NFL’s efforts to establish a playable surface in the league’s first game at Croke Park in Dublin.

“There were a few sequences where I kind of noticed it,” O’Connell said, “but I thought they did a pretty darn good job and to have a grass surface there. You live with it being a little more slick.”