The Minnesota Vikings have had an odd start to the 2025 campaign, and yet, they have a 2-1 record as they embark on their European tour for the next two weeks. Ahead of their Week 4 matchup against the Pittsburgh Steelers, which will take place in Dublin, Ireland, Kevin O’Connell and his coaching staff ended up getting put on blast by San Francisco 49ers‘ defensive coordinator Robert Saleh.
The Niners are facing the Jacksonville Jaguars in Week 4, with the Jags being led by first-year head coach Liam Coen. When Coen, who was formerly the Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ offensive coordinator, accepted the job over the offseason, he hired several members of O’Connell’s staff to join him. According to Saleh, that presents a challenge for San Francisco, because O’Connell and his staff in Minnesota have a signal-stealing system in place that the Jags may now be utilizing.
Robert Saleh Drops Bold Claim About Kevin O’Connell, Vikings
O’Connell and Coen crossed paths with each other in 2020 with the Los Angeles Rams, as O’Connell was the team’s offensive coordinator, while Coen was the assistant quarterbacks coach. After O’Connell took the Vikings’ head coach job in 2022, Coen ended up returning to the Rams to succeed him as their offensive coordinator.
When Coen was hired as the Jaguars’ head coach over the offseason, he quickly poached Grant Udinski and Shaun Sarrett from O’Connell’s coaching staff with the Vikings. Udinski is working as Jacksonville’s offensive coordinator, while Sarrett is the team’s offensive line coach, so O’Connell’s influence can be found throughout the Jags.
Apparently, that carries over to stealing signals, as Saleh alleges that O’Connell has devised an elaborate system that coaches who previously worked with him have taken to new teams. That includes the Jaguars, as Saleh detailed the challenges that will come with playing Jacksonville now that Coen and his new coaching staff are in town.
“Liam and his staff, a couple of guys coming from Minnesota, they’ve got, legally, a really advanced signal-stealing-type system where they always find a way to put themselves in an advantageous situation,” Saleh said on Thursday. “They do a great job with it … So we’ve gotta be great with our signals and we’ve gotta be great with our communication to combat some of the tells that we might give on the field. They’re almost elite in that regard, that whole entire tree.”
Could Vikings Be Punished by NFL Over Robert Saleh’s Claims?
GettyMinnesota Vikings head coach Kevin O’Connell looks on against the Chicago Bears.
Saleh’s claims immediately caught fans’ attention, and they immediately sparked memories of “Spygate,” which saw the New England Patriots get punished by the NFL back in 2007 for illegally spying on their opponents before games and stealing their signals. Saleh goes out of his way to say that O’Connell’s operation is legal, but nevertheless, it’s going to raise some eyebrows.
There’s nothing that says teams can’t steal their opponents’ signals, but they can’t break rules set in place by the league in order to do so. For now, it doesn’t seem like O’Connell and the Vikings are doing anything illegal, or else Saleh probably would have made a bigger deal about this operation. Minnesota will attempt to block out this noise and focus on getting ready for its upcoming clash against Pittsburgh, which will kick off at 9:30 a.m. ET on Sunday morning.
