Somewhat overshadowed by the high-profile Kirk Cousins situation, Danielle Hunter is one of the top free agents on the market this year in his own right (ESPN’s Matt Bowen recently ranked him as the No. 4 free agent in the league, two spots behind Cousins).
Whether or not he returns to Minnesota is a major domino in the Vikings’ offseason. So where do things stand with Hunter? The latest report (from ESPN’s Dan Graziano) is that the Vikings have “made an effort” to re-sign him. But it won’t be easy.
With Josh Allen and Brian Burns both getting the franchise tag this week, Hunter is clearly the top edge rusher on the market this spring. That means there could be significant competition for his services. “It’s safe to say teams are expecting Hunter to be in — or at least searching for — a pretty massive price range, something well north of $20 million per year,” wrote ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler. Vikings UFA Profile: OLB Danielle Hunter The Vikings’ primary focus to this point has reportedly — and understandably — been Cousins’ status.
If he ends up leaving and signing with the Falcons, which looks like a real possibility, the Vikings would theoretically have more cap room over the next few years to allocate to a player like Hunter (even with Cousins carrying a $28.5 million dead cap hit this season). But even then, GM Kwesi Adofo-Mensah may not want to outbid all other suitors for an edge rusher who turns 30 in October.
The five-year, $72 million extension Hunter signed way back in 2018 turned out to be extremely team-friendly for the Vikings, which led to contract drama and restructures in each of the last three offseasons. Given that he’s coming off a career-high 16.5 sacks and his fourth Pro Bowl nod, Hunter is undoubtedly going to squeeze all that he can out of his first trip to free agency. If there’s a team willing to pay him $25 million a year, I’m not sure the Vikings are going to match that.
“We’ve obviously had these conversations for the last couple of years,” Adofo-Mensah said at the NFL combine last week. “He had a great season, and I don’t know that anybody in Minnesota was surprised by that. Danielle walks out of bed and is going to sack the quarterback, pressure, impact the game. That’s who he is. We’ll have fruitful dialogue like we always do.
It’s not just about this season, it’s the next season and all these things. You always gotta remember, the players have their needs from their standpoint. And I always respect that. So we’ll go to the table and we’ll see if we can talk about a way to find a deal to meet in the middle.”
The Vikings will attempt to see if they can bring back Hunter, and for good reason. If he leaves, they’ll be in dire need of help at the outside linebacker position.
But when thinking about what Hunter’s market might look like, it might be more likely than not that he ends up signing elsewhere this month.
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