Blockbuster Trade Pitch Lands Bears $72 Million Edge Rusher

The Chicago Bears have been wheeling and dealing all offseason long, but as training camp approaches the franchise remains absent a bonafide pass-rushing threat.

Field Yates of ESPN predicted on Wednesday, June 21, that Chicago’s final major roster move ahead of the season will be to add an edge rusher to the defense. However, considering the Bears’ reticence to sign one of the several qualified candidates available via free agency despite several months worth of opportunity to do so, Yates projected that a trade is the more likely path to Chicago’s preferred acquisition.

“The Bears have not shied from stating the desire to beef up their edge room — they are light on established pass rushers,” Yates wrote. “The free agent market features more players who would be designated pass rushers in the Bears’ scheme (think Yannick Ngakoue) than every-down candidates, which leads me to wonder whether the Bears would be better served to find a trade for an edge player. Pretty much any name at the position that has come up as a potential trade/cut candidate has been linked to the Bears.”

One of those names is Minnesota Vikings outside linebacker Danielle Hunter — the most established and successful edge rusher in the NFL who remains a candidate to swap uniforms ahead of September.

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Danielle Hunter is Holding Out for New Contract or Trade From Vikings

Hunter has been building toward a new contract and/or trade demand all offseason long.

The three-time Pro Bowler skipped voluntary workouts in May before blowing off mandatory minicamp in June, the latter move costing him tens of thousands of dollars in an effort to make his point. Before all that, Hunter wiped Vikings imagery from his social media accounts in the fashion of former teammate Za’Darius Smith, who Minnesota eventually traded to the Cleveland Browns for a couple of fifth-round picks.

Hunter is entering into the final season of a five-year, $72 million contract with the Vikings. However, due to the way the deal is structured, he is scheduled to make only $5.5 million in guaranteed salary and bonuses in 2023.

The outside linebacker has a recent history of injury, missing the entirety of 2020 with a neck issue that required surgery before tearing his pectoral in 2021. The latter injury cost him the final 10 contests of the campaign.

That said, Hunter is also a three-time Pro Bowler (2018, 2019, 2022). He led the Vikings with 10.5 sacks last season, adding 34 quarterback hits and 22 quarterback pressures, per Pro Football Reference. Hunter will turn 29 years old in October and is looking to secure a long-term deal to protect him against further injury as well as the decline in compensation NFL players often suffer after they hit the age of 30.

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Bears Have Draft Capital Necessary to Trade for Vikings OLB Danielle Hunter

ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler reported on June 12 that the Vikings would prefer to hold onto Hunter, which means that negotiations on a trade are likely to start at a second-round pick and go up from there.

The Bears currently hold the rights to eight draft choices in 2024, including two first-rounders (their own and one from the Carolina Panthers) as well as one second-round selection, one third-round pick and two fourth-round choices (their own and one from the Philadelphia Eagles), per NBC Sports Chicago.

The amount of draft capital at the Bears’ disposal makes the second-round pick that Fowler is predicting as a necessity to nab Hunter an asset with which Chicago can afford to part. A second- and a fourth-round pick is probably too steep of a package for Hunter given his injury concerns. Though, a second-rounder and a sixth-rounder in 2024 is a price the Bears can pay for a player who would walk into training camp on day 1 as the team’s best pass-rushing threat by a wide margin.

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