Will it be a big night for Kevin O'Connell, Jared Allen at NFL Honors?

Thursday night could be a big night for a few current Vikings and one former Minnesota star.

The annual NFL Honors show is happening tonight in New Orleans. It's at 8 p.m. central time and will be televised on FOX and NFL Network. Snoop Dogg is hosting. All of the league's most prestigious awards will be handed out, including MVP, and the Pro Football Hall of Fame's class of 2025 will be announced.

Three Vikings are finalists among the eight main awards — which were voted on by the Associated Press — and one stands out as having a very good chance to win.

Sam Darnold is a finalist for Comeback Player of the Year. After Joe Flacco beat Damar Hamlin last year, the criteria of the award was changed to emphasize players coming back from missing time due to illness, injury, or other circumstances. Darnold doesn't meet that criteria, but he was named a finalist anyways after reviving his career with an incredible Pro Bowl season in Minnesota. The other finalists are Joe Burrow, J.K. Dobbins, Christian Gonzalez, and Hamlin. It'll almost certainly be won by Burrow, the star Bengals QB who had a brilliant season after coming back from a 2023 wrist injury.

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Kevin O'Connell is a finalist for Coach of the Year — and the betting favorite to win it. O'Connell helped lead Darnold and the Vikings to a 14-3 record despite coming into the season with a preseason Vegas win total of just 6.5. The other finalists are Dan Campbell, Dan Quinn, Sean Payton, and Andy Reid. This one feels like a two-horse race between O'Connell and Campbell, with KOC having a very good shot to take it home. The last Vikings coach to win the award was Bud Grant in 1969.

Brian Flores is a finalist for Assistant Coach of the Year. Flores had another incredible season leading the Vikings' defense, which finished near the top of the league in a wide range of metrics. He certainly deserved to be a finalist, but he's probably a long shot to actually win the award. The Lions' Ben Johnson and Aaron Glenn are also finalists, as are Joe Brady and Vic Fangio.

The Walter Payton Man of the Year award will also be announced. All 32 teams have a nominee; the Vikings' is beloved fullback C.J. Ham.

The person awaiting tonight's events with perhaps the highest hopes and greatest uncertainty is Jared Allen, the Vikings legend who is one of 15 modern-era finalists for induction into the Hall of Fame. It's the fifth consecutive year he's been a finalist since first becoming eligible. A maximum of five players out of the 15 will be enshrined this year, with 80 percent of the vote needed. Allen faces some tough competition in a class that includes Luke Kuechly, Antonio Gates, Terrell Suggs, Torry Holt, Eli Manning, Adam Vinatieri, Reggie Wayne, Marshal Yanda, and six others.

Hopefully tonight will be the night Allen gets the famous knock on his door to inform him that he's in. The four-time first team All-Pro, who was with the Vikings from 2008-2013, is tied for 16th in NFL history with 136 sacks. Everyone above him on the list is in the HOF except for Suggs, who could be inducted this year in what is his first year of eligibility.

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