5 current Vikings with the best Hall of Fame chances
By Luke Parrish
Danielle Hunter has some work to do
If Vikings fans were polled on Danielle Hunter‘s odds of making the Hall of Fame just two years ago, I think a larger constituent would have said yes. After essentially missing two years of his prime, the journey for Hunter has gotten much, much tougher.
Hunter was the youngest player to ever reach 50 career sacks at just 25-years-old when he sacked David Blough three times in 2019. At the time, the sky was the limit for Hunter and the Vikings were ready to pay him the money he was worth.
Instead, a neck injury and a torn pectoral muscle have sidelined Hunter for a year and a half as he tries to work his way back to the top of the league’s sack ladder. He will turn 28 next season and enters the year with 60.5 sacks so far in his career. He will need at least 40 more sacks to be in contention for the Hall of Fame, which is possible.
However, high sack totals have not guaranteed any Hall of Fame luck. Voters are wanting a lot more from pass rushers as the game changes and Hunter will have to adapt his game and boost numbers elsewhere to have a chance.
He will need to force more fumbles and reach well over 100 career sacks to have a shot at Canton. A realistic sack total would be somewhere around 130 over his career or roughly 70 more over the rest of his career. That would be about 15 sacks per season over five years and a significantly lower average if Hunter can play beyond his age 33 season.
With injuries cutting two seasons short in a row, it is a lot harder to project a long career. Given that Jared Allen and his 136 career sacks, which rank 12th in the history of the NFL, did not make it into the Hall of Fame right away, Hunter is not going to have an easy path.
Chances of Hunter reaching the Hall of Fame: 10 percent