Vikings tackle Brian O'Neill is back protecting Kirk Cousins at training camp

For the first time since Jan. 1, Vikings right tackle Brian O'Neill aligned across from an opponent and denied access to quarterback Kirk Cousins during Wednesday's joint practice with the Cardinals.

O'Neill is nearly nine months removed from a partial tear of his right Achilles — called an avulsion fracture — but that wasn't on his mind during his first full workload of the summer.

"It was really fun. It felt great," O'Neill told the Star Tribune. "I didn't think about my leg one time. [This] was a huge step. I'm really happy with how it went. Physically, I got to go check out how the film looked. But it gave me a ton of confidence going into the next couple weeks."

After sitting out joint sessions against the Titans last week, O'Neill took every rep during the first-team offense's 11-on-11 drills against the Cardinals defense. Head coach Kevin O'Connell watched closely.

"This was kind of his first planned, full workload — and no issues," O'Connell said. "I'm really proud of Brian and everything he's kind of done. His whole progression, his patience, his professionalism, and making sure we're right where we want to be."

The Vikings' goal during O'Neill's nine-month recovery has been to get him ready for the Sept. 10 season opener against the Buccaneers. O'Neill wasn't ready to say he's guaranteed to play Week 1.

"Based on [Wednesday], it's not something I'm going to have to think about at all," he said. "That was a really good sign. I haven't thought about it in rehab, I haven't thought about it in individual drills, and there wasn't one time out there today where I felt I was thinking about my Achilles."

O'Neill didn't want to get into the details of rehabbing a partially torn Achilles, other than it's not something he wishes on anyone else.

"It was pretty bad," O'Neill said. "It was the hardest one I've done. I've only ever done a shoulder [recovery] in college. At the end of the day, objectively, nobody cares how hard it was. They care if you come back right and come back ready to go. That's my responsibility to do so."

From the front office to the field, the Vikings and Cardinals have numerous connections.

Cardinals head coach Jonathan Gannon, hired this offseason to replace Kliff Kingsbury, spent four years as Mike Zimmer's assistant defensive backs coach from 2014-2017. Cardinals offensive coordinator Drew Petzing, defensive coordinator Nick Rallis, outside linebackers coach Rob Rodriguez, linebackers coach Sam Siefkes and strength coach Evan Marcus also spent time on Zimmer's staffs.

Gannon, a first-year head coach, left Minnesota for a promotion with the Colts just months before the Vikings opened the spacious TCO Performance Center in 2018.

"It's phenomenal, it's beautiful," Gannon said. "The Wilfs did a great job with this. I actually got to tour it one day and the next day I left. We had a staff get-together in the VIP tents, worked out here this morning, it was beautiful. They let us come here and use the weight room — it's obviously first-class."

* George Stewart, the former Vikings receivers coach from 2007-2016, attended Wednesday's practice. Stewart coached with Gannon and Petzing, who was Stewart's assistant receivers coach in 2016, in Minnesota.

* Larry Fitzgerald Jr., the Minneapolis native and ex-Cardinals star, was also in attendance.

* The Vikings moved up practice to 11 a.m. to avoid the worst part of the heat wave, but the feels-like temp reached 105 degrees during the session. That didn't bother Gannon, who said: "It feels like spring break to me. It's nice out. [O'Connell] is the one who wanted to move it back."

* Receiver K.J. Osborn caught one of Cousins' four deep completions against the Cardinals during full-team drills. Osborn then high-fived Vikings owner Zygi Wilf on the sideline.