Lunchbreak: Sam Darnold & Kevin O’Connell Tabbed for Honors by ‘Sporting News’

On Thursday, the franchise doubled up in voting for honors distributed by Sporting News, which has passed out NFL superlatives for 70 seasons: First-year Vikings quarterback Sam Darnold was tabbed Comeback Player of the Year, and Head Coach Kevin O’Connell received Coach of the Year distinction.

The former award was introduced by Sporting News in 2008, the same year that the media outlet adapted its balloting to be determined by NFL players, coaches and executives. Darnold is the second Viking to win the aforementioned honor, joining future Pro Football Hall of Famer Adrian Peterson in 2012; Peterson also clinched Sporting News’ Offensive Player of the Year recognition in his MVP season.

Darnold, who accumulated career highs in completion rate (66.2 percent), passing yards (4,319) and passing touchdowns (35) in addition to numerous other statistical categories and was elected to his first Pro Bowl, was preceded as winner of the Comeback Player of the Year award by six straight QBs, starting with Andrew Luck, and then Jimmy Garoppolo, Alex Smith, Dak Prescott, Geno Smith and Tua Tagovailoa.

After becoming the first Vikings quarterback to win 14 games in a regular season – and forthright repairing his reputation as a capable starter – Darnold has been touted as a hot player eligible for free agency and a contender for Comeback Player of the Year at next Thursday’s NFL Honors in New Orleans. Darnold also was picked as the Most Improved Player on Jan. 24 by the Pro Football Writers of America.

Likewise, O’Connell, the PFWA Coach of the Year, is the second Viking to earn that title from Sporting News. The late, great Bud Grant did it in 1969 when he steered Minnesota to a Super Bowl appearance.

O’Connell’s brilliance as a play-caller and stewardship of a positive culture resulted in a multi-year contract extension, and makes him a favorite for Coach of the Year merit at the NFL Honors ceremony.

Vinnie Iyer of Sporting News disclosed on Thursday that Darnold and O’Connell dominated the voting by their peers; Darnold earned 503 votes, comfortably edging Bengals QB Joe Burrow (144) and Chargers RB J.K. Dobbins (109), while O’Connell took home 14 votes, 11 more than runners-up Dan Campbell, last year’s winner, and Andy Reid. Those coaches respectively led Detroit and Kansas City to 15-2 records.

In addition to the top individual honors, Sporting News formulated its All-Pro team, chosen since 1950, with votes coming from NFL coaches. It included Vikings megastar wide receiver Justin Jefferson, who etched his third season of 1,500 receiving yards and is one closer to tying Jerry Rice’s all-time mark (4).

Here’s the rest of Sporting News’ 2024 NFL award winners:

Offensive Player of the Year: Eagles RB Saquon Barkley

Defensive Player of the Year: Browns DE Myles Garrett

Rookie of the Year: Commanders QB Jayden Daniels

Executive of the Year: Lions General Manager Brad Holmes

Coordinator of the Year: Lions OC Ben Johnson (now the Bears HC)

Fastest players in Next Gen Stats era

There’s the no-brainers like wide receivers Tyreek Hill, DeSean Jackson and Brandin Cooks.

Some players make a living, very literally, on their breakaway speed. They bust loose and bring in a fade route then waltz past chasing tacklers; they nonchalantly explode through a crease on a kickoff return or rip off a home-run run on a routine handoff. The NFL, obviously, is chock-full of blink-and-miss-me speed.

But any idea who the fastest players are in the league? How about since 2016 when Next Gen Stats started tracking analytics such as fastest ball carriers measured in miles per hour. FOX Sports on Thursday reviewed the data and ranked the top 10 — and to our liking, it features two former Vikings.

Cue the Xavier Rhodes and Stefon Diggs highlight tapes.

In 2016, Rhodes collected a couple interceptions in a 30-24 win against Arizona. The first was bonkers. On a Cardinals third-and-goal at Minnesota’s 9-yard line, Rhodes jumped a Carson Palmer pass near the front left pylon of the end zone intended for wide receiver John Brown. Rhodes received it in stride, turned on the jets and streaked up the sideline then weaved toward the middle for a 100-yard pick six.

At some point, Rhodes maxed out at 22.40 mph, the seventh-fastest ball-carrier speed since 2016.

Incredibly, Diggs managed bragging rights over Rhodes that same season.

Nine weeks earlier, Diggs, the hero of the Minneapolis Miracle, left his stamp on the debut of U.S. Bank Stadium, amassing a career-high 182 receiving yards to help deliver a 17-14 win over archrival Green Bay.

On one of his nine catches in that game – a 46-yarder late in the third quarter – Diggs nabbed a skinny post route from Sam Bradford, hit the NOS button to enter Packers territory and then counterintuitively pumped the brakes and cut back into a couple defenders. Still, it was NGS’ sixth-fastest monitored speed.