Drake Maye dazzled with his incredible arm strength at his pro day in Chapel Hill, N.C. Jayden Daniels showcased his unmatched playmaking ability at his pro day in Baton Rouge, La. J.J. McCarthy proved that he’s more than capable of letting it rip at his pro day in Ann Arbor, Mich.

Vikings head coach Kevin O’Connell wasn’t in attendance for any of it.

As many of his counterparts have traversed the country over the past couple of weeks, descending upon various college campus with an eye toward the future, O’Connell has taken a different approach as the Vikings canvass the market in search of their next quarterback.

“I think pro days are great for a lot of reasons,” O’Connell said. “It’s valuable for us as a piece of it.”

Just not as valuable as some quality time away from an environment that is literally scripted for success. As he chatted with reporters this week at the NFL’s annual owners meetings in Orlando, O’Connell implored people not to read too much into his absence at pro days, emphasizing that the Vikings will prioritize meeting privately with some of the top prospects on their draft board.

“I think it’s really important,” O’Connell said. “Now, what that looks like may not be a standard thing however many times we do it.”

It could mean visiting a particular player and taking him out to lunch to see how he interacts with his peers when the cameras are turned off. It could mean hosting a particular player at TCO Performance Center in Eagan and putting him in stressful situations to see how he responds. All the pieces matter in trying to project how that person is going to perform at the highest level.

“You can get a real quick indication of the level of excitement we all have for a guy based upon spending a good chunk of time together,” O’Connell said. “The building changing quarterbacks, they don’t just change the facilities. Any room they ever walk into, they light it up, they change it, they impact it. We can see that on display in an authentic way when we do the full process with those trips.”

Some of the tangible traits O’Connell is looking for during his evaluation start off the field. He likes to watch film with them to see how quickly they can remember the intent of certain plays. He likes to ask them questions to see how clearly they can articulate their answers. He likes to inundate them with new information to see how effectively they can process in real time.

The next step for O’Connell is determining if the basic fundamentals of playing the position translate on the field. He wants to see if they have proper technique with their feet during a standard drop. He wants to see how they navigate the pocket when the play is on schedule versus when the play is off schedule. He wants see if they can deliver the ball accurately with rhythm and timing.

“You want to see how it fits within the framework of, not our system, rather the system that we want to build for them,” O’Connell said. “It’s a partnership with whoever we’re selecting to try to build something that we’ll all be really proud of.”

The biggest issue for the Vikings is the fact that they are going to be at the mercy of other teams higher than them in the draft’s pecking order. They currently have the No. 11 pick in the first round (as well as the No. 23 pick in the first round), so they likely will have to be aggressive to get their guy.

“I think there are probably multiple teams that are all looking to add a player at the position,” O’Connell said. “That’s all part of the fun.”

It’s not as simple as the Vikings saying they like Maye, or they like Daniels, or they like McCarthy, and then pulling the trigger once they’re on the clock. There will be a lot of things the Vikings can’t control over the next month. That’s why O’Connell is leaning into the things he can control.

“I want to be forming relationships with these guys and really starting to envision what it’s going to look like to be around each other every single day trying to build up our organization,” O’Connell said. “That’s the excitement of something like this, and I want them to feel that from me. I want them to feel like whether they end up being a Minnesota Viking or not, I want them all to look at it and say, ‘Man, I’d love to play for that guy. That would be a great opportunity.’ You earn that by what we do throughout the process.”

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