Why Danielle Hunter might have leverage over the Vikings
By Adam Patrick
Rumors about the desire of Minnesota Vikings defensive end Danielle Hunter to get a pay raise aren’t going away anytime soon.
During the first five years after selecting him in the third round of the 2015 NFL Draft, the Minnesota Vikings couldn’t have hoped for the career of Danielle Hunter to turn out much better than it did.
Hunter accumulated 54.5 sacks during his first five seasons with the Vikings and his future was looking very bright. He was well on his way to becoming one of the best defensive players to ever suit up in a purple and gold uniform.
But then Hunter was sidelined by a neck injury during last summer’s training camp and it resulted in him missing the entire 2020 season. Minnesota expects him to be back on the field this year, but the young pass rusher is hoping the team will reward him for his past production before he appears in another game for them.
Will the Minnesota Vikings give Danielle Hunter a new contract this offseason?
Last October, when any chance of Hunter playing in 2020 was put to bed, NFL Media’s Ian Rapoport posted a tweet that said the Vikings needed to either make their top pass rusher the highest-paid defender in the league or trade him.
This was the first time in which there was a sense of unhappiness coming from Hunter about his current contract. Since then, nothing has really come about other than a few discussions between fans and people who cover the team.
But then on Friday, Hunter liked a few tweets that had to do with him getting traded to another team. He’s not very active on Twitter and the last tweet he liked was back in December. So this appears to possibly be his way of giving Minnesota a nudge to let them know that he’s going to want out if they don’t increase his pay this year.
With him missing all of the 2020 season due to a neck injury, some might think that the Vikings hold all the leverage in this situation. But that isn’t exactly the case.
Minnesota holds some leverage because of the injury, but the performance of their pass rush without Hunter on the field gives him leverage.
Back in 2018, Hunter signed a five-year, $72 million extension with the Vikings. During the two seasons that came after he was extended, the Minnesota defensive end racked up a total of 29 sacks.
In 2020, with Hunter on the sidelines, the Vikings finished with just 23 sacks, the fifth-fewest amount in the NFL.
So in the three seasons after he signed his extension, he took his production to the highest level possible during the first two years, and then in the third year, the team’s pass rush suffered mightily without him on the field.
This isn’t breaking news, but Minnesota’s ability to get to the opposing quarterback is much better with Hunter on the field. But the fact that their pass-rushing productivity dropped so low without him last season is something that his representatives can present to the Vikings when trying to negotiate for their client to get an increase in pay this year.