Brian Cormac O'Neill (born September 15, 1995) is an American professional

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

offensive tackle Offensive may refer to: * Offensive (military), type of military operation * Offensive, the former name of the Dutch political party Socialist Alternative * Fighting words, spoken words which would have a tendency to cause acts of violence by the ...

for the

Minnesota Vikings The Minnesota Vikings are a professional American football team based in Minneapolis. The Vikings compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC North, North division. Founded in 1960 as ...

of the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a Professional gridiron football, professional American football league in the United States. Composed of 32 teams, it is divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National ...

(NFL). He played

college football College football is gridiron football that is played by teams of amateur Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. It was through collegiate competition that gridiron football American football in the United States, firs ...

for the

Pittsburgh Panthers The Pittsburgh Panthers, commonly also referred to as the Pitt Panthers, are the athletic teams representing the University of Pittsburgh, although the term is colloquially used to refer to other aspects of the university such as alumni, facul ...

Early life

O'Neill attended

Salesianum School Salesianum School is a Catholic independent school for boys located in Wilmington, Delaware. It is run independently within the Diocese of Wilmington and is operated by the Oblates of St. Francis de Sales. The current enrollment is about 930 s ...

Wilmington, Delaware Wilmington is the List of municipalities in Delaware, most populous city in the U.S. state of Delaware. The city was built on the site of Fort Christina, the first Swedish colonization of the Americas, Swedish settlement in North America. It lie ...

. Along with football, he also played basketball and lacrosse. Offensively as a senior he caught 33 passes for 614 yards and eight

touchdowns A touchdown (abbreviated as TD) is a scoring play in gridiron football. Scoring a touchdown grants the team that scored it 6 points. Whether running, passing, returning a kickoff or punt, or recovering a turnover, a team scores a touchd ...

. Defensively, he tallied 45 tackles, five sacks, 13 pass deflections, three forced fumbles and two fumble recoveries. A 3-star recruit, he committed to play football for

Pittsburgh Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, United States, and its county seat. It is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, second-most populous city in Pennsylvania (after Philadelphia) and the List of Un ...

as a tight end in July 2013 over offers from Coastal Carolina, Old Dominion, and

Tulane The Tulane University of Louisiana (commonly referred to as Tulane University) is a private research university in New Orleans, Louisiana, United States. Founded as the Medical College of Louisiana in 1834 by a cohort of medical doctors, it be ...

, among other offers.

College career

O'Neill

redshirted Redshirt, in United States college athletics, is a delay or suspension of an athlete's participation in order to lengthen their period of eligibility. Typically, a student's athletic eligibility in a given sport is four seasons, aligning with the ...

as a true freshman in 2014. O'Neill switched from tight end to offensive tackle in July 2015. Minus the first game of the 2015 season, O'Neill started every game for Pittsburgh from 2015 to 2017 (37 consecutive starts). In 2016 he was named to the All-

Atlantic Coast Conference The Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference in the United States. Headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina, the ACC's eighteen member universities compete in the National Collegiate Athlet ...

(ACC) Third-team and in 2017 the All-ACC First-team. After 2017, his redshirt junior season, he declared for the

2018 NFL draft The 2018 NFL draft was the 83rd annual meeting of National Football League (NFL) franchises to select newly eligible players for the 2018 NFL season. The draft was held on April 26–28 at AT&T Stadium in Arlington southwest of Dallas; it was ...

Professional career

O'Neill had an impressive performance at the 2018 NFL Combine. He ran the

40-yard dash The 40-yard dash is a sprint covering . It is primarily run to evaluate the speed and acceleration of American football players by scouts, particularly for the NFL draft but also for collegiate recruiting. A player's recorded time can have a he ...

in 4.82 seconds, the fastest time among all offensive linemen and the best time for a lineman since 2013. It also was the fourth-fastest recorded time for an offensive lineman at the combine since 2006, trailing only Eagles'

Lane Johnson David Lane Johnson (born May 8, 1990) is an American professional football offensive tackle for the Philadelphia Eagles of the National Football League (NFL). He was selected by the Eagles fourth overall in the 2013 NFL draft. He played college ...

(4.72), Saints' Terron Armstead (4.71) and Vikings teammate Aviante Collins (4.77). He also had the best time among offensive linemen in the

three-cone drill The three-cone drill, 3-cone drill or L-drill is a test performed by American football players. It is primarily run to evaluate the agility, quickness and fluidity of movement of players by scouts. It is most commonly seen at the NFL Combine in p ...

, at 7.14 seconds. O'Neill was selected by the

in the second round (62nd overall) of the

. He entered the season as a backup tackle behind starters

Riley Reiff Riley Reiff (born December 1, 1988) is an American professional football offensive tackle. He played college football for the Iowa Hawkeyes and was selected by the Detroit Lions 23rd overall in the first round of the 2012 NFL draft. He previo ...

and Rashod Hill. He made his first career start in Week 6 at right tackle after Rashod Hill was moved to left tackle in place of an injured Riley Reiff. He maintained that starting role the rest of the season over Hill after Reiff returned from injury to play left tackle. On September 8, 2021, O'Neill signed a five-year, $92.5 million contract extension with the Vikings. Following the 2021 season, O'Neill was named to the

2022 Pro Bowl The 2022 Pro Bowl was the National Football League all-star game for the 2021 NFL season. It was played at Allegiant Stadium in Paradise, Nevada, on February 6, 2022. ESPN, ABC and Disney XD had the national television rights. Voting for the game ...

, his first. On January 3, 2023, O'Neill was placed on injured reserve. Shortly thereafter, he underwent surgery to repair a partially torn

Achilles tendon The Achilles tendon or heel cord, also known as the calcaneal tendon, is a tendon at the back of the lower leg, and is the thickest in the human body. It serves to attach the plantaris, gastrocnemius (calf) and soleus muscles to the calcane ...

Personal life

O'Neill's father, Brendan, played football at Dartmouth and his mother, Elizabeth, swam at Northeastern. His older brother, Eamon O’Neill, was a two time Delaware player of the year for the Salesianum School soccer team. He went on to star at Northwestern. His uncle is former Delaware

Governor A governor is an politician, administrative leader and head of a polity or Region#Political regions, political region, in some cases, such as governor-general, governors-general, as the head of a state's official representative. Depending on the ...

and Wilmington Mayor John Carney, who also played football at Dartmouth. Brian married his high school sweetheart, Bryn Gorelick, in March 2024.

References

External links

Minnesota Vikings bioPitt Panthers bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:ONeill, Brian 1995 births Living people Players of American football from Wilmington, Delaware American football offensive tackles Pittsburgh Panthers football players Minnesota Vikings players Salesianum School alumni National Conference Pro Bowl players