Vikings coach Kevin O’Connell adds two assistants to his staff

The Vikings finalized two additions to the coaching staff Friday.

Shaun Sarrett was hired as assistant offensive line coach, replacing Justin Rascati, who was hired by the Bengals earlier this month as their pass game coordinator. Sarrett, 44, enters his 13th season as an NFL assistant, most recently spending three seasons as the Chargers assistant offensive line coach under ex-coach Brandon Staley, a friend of O’Connell’s.

O’Connell also added Henry Schneider IV as an assistant to the head coach. Schneider came up in football operations for the Dolphins, Seahawks and Raiders. He spent the past five years with the Raiders, including the past two seasons as manager of coaching operations under ex-coach Josh McDaniels. McDaniels was O’Connell’s coordinator and quarterbacks coach with the Patriots.

The Vikings coaching staff stands at 26 members, including new defensive line coach Marcus Dixon, who was hired earlier this month to replace Chris Rumph. Rumph left for a job at Clemson in the middle of last season.

Many of those coaches will be in Indianapolis next week to evaluate and interview college prospects during the NFL scouting combine.

The NFL’s salary cap for 2024 will be $255.4 million, up a record $30.6 million from last year.

The cap number has gone from $198.2 million in 2020 to $182.5 million in 2021 following the COVID-19 pandemic. It increased to $208.2 million in 2022 and $224.8 million last year.

“The unprecedented $30 million increase per club in this year’s salary cap is the result of the full repayment of all amounts advanced by the clubs and deferred by the players during the Covid pandemic as well as an extraordinary increase in media revenue for the 2024 season,” the league said in a statement.

The NFL free agency period opens March 13.

This story contains material from the Associated Press.