Danielle Hunter made NFL history during the Vikings’ win on Sunday

The Minnesota Vikings defensive end notched the 45th sack of his career on Sunday against the New York Giants, tying an NFL record.

Despite already being in his fifth season with the Minnesota Vikings, some may be surprised to find out that Danielle Hunter still has yet to celebrate his 25th birthday.

Hunter has been such a fixture in the Vikings’ defense for the past few years that it feels like he is one of the older members of the team’s elite unit. Of the 11 starters on Minnesota’s defense though, Hunter is actually the youngest.

His age certainly hasn’t prevented the defensive end from having success during his career with the Vikings so far. Hunter has already finished two seasons with at least 12.5 sacks and he’s on his way to ending with a similar amount this year.

Heading into Minnesota’s matchup against the New York Giants on Sunday, the young defensive end had already notched a trio of sacks during the team’s first four games of the season. Then during the Vikings’ win over the Giants, Hunter added two more to his 2019 total.

With his pair of sacks on Sunday, the Minnesota defensive end tied the NFL record for the most sacks by a player before turning 25. Current Dallas Cowboys defensive end Robert Quinn also had 45 sacks before his 25th birthday.

Now, Hunter won’t be 25-years-old until October 29. So, barring injury, he will have three games to try and make the sack record his own.

Two of the Vikings’ next three contests come against offensive lines that have given up less than 10 sacks to their opponents this season (Philadelphia Eagles and Detroit Lions). But Minnesota’s Week 8 matchup comes against a Washington Redskins’ offensive line that is among the worst in the league this year.

So there seems to be a pretty good chance that Hunter should be able to come out of the Vikings’ next three games with at least one more sack to add to his career total and have an NFL record all to himself.