Getty Head coach Kevin O'Connell of the Minnesota Vikings.
The Minnesota Vikings are less than two weeks away from training camp and still have plenty of business on the docket.
While Justin Jefferson’s future contract extension is the most noteworthy, the most pressing is what the team will do with Danielle Hunter, who skipped mandatory minicamps in June, incurring nearly $50,000 in fines amid a contract dispute with the Vikings.
KSTP’s Darren Wolfson reported on July 13 that he expects the Vikings to reenter contract talks with Hunter this week with most of the front office returning from summer break.
“I think things are going to ramp up next week. A lot of the Vikings people are trickling back into town. I think next week is going to be a relatively active week,” Wolfson said. “I don’t know if talk will turn into action. But I do think there is going to be a good amount of heavy dialogue next week.”
Vikings Willing to Sweeten Danielle Hunter’s Contract: Report
GettyOutside linebacker Danielle Hunter of the Minnesota Vikings looks on prior to a game against the Indianapolis Colts in December 2022.
Coming off a 13-sack season where he tied for sixth in the league with 70 pressures last year, Hunter showed he’s the same player he was before neck and pectoral injuries held him out of 24 of 32 games the previous two seasons.
Hunter is looking for a lucrative extension as his current contract has soured from several restructures. He’s due just $5.5 million in cash left on the final year of his deal, which ranks 56th among edge rushers.
Hunter quickly outplayed the five-year, $72 million contract he signed in 2018. He posted a league-leading 154 pressures across the 2018 and 2019 seasons, per Pro Football Focus, and the third-most sacks (29.0) among all NFL defenders.
Hunter has trended toward holdouts the past few seasons as the Vikings have restructured the deal to give him more money upfront. However, that’s left little on the plate for him this season. The consensus is that Hunter will need a new contract if he’s going to play for Minnesota in 2023.
Wolfson reported in June that Minnesota is willing to bump Hunter’s pay significantly.
The going rate for a Pro Bowl pass rusher like Hunter will be in the ballpark of $20 million annually. Hunter’s annual value per year of his career has hovered under $10 million, which has left a bad taste in his agent’s mouth after negotiating a bad deal for Hunter in 2018. That could lead to some tough negotiations ahead.
“I was told that the agent for Danielle Hunter is playing some serious hardball, making negotiations a little more difficult than it was anticipated,” SKOR North’s Declan Goff reported on June 13.
Pioneer Press columnist Charley Walters projected Hunter is looking for a three-year, $65 million deal at $21.7 million annually. That would make him the seventh-highest-paid edge rusher in the NFL behind Miami Dolphins linebacker Bradley Chubb ($22.0 million a year) and ahead of Buffalo Bills veteran Von Miller ($20 million a year).
Vikings’ Kevin O’Connell Addresses Danielle Hunter Drama
Upon Hunter’s absence at minicamps, head coach Kevin O’Connell played a similar song and dance to what occurred this offseason in several other negotiations — being “solutions-oriented.”
“I know a lot of you guys might have some questions regarding Danielle and his absence. The only thing I would just say is I’ve got all the respect in the world for Danielle as a player, a leader, a person on our team,” O’Connell said in a June 13 media conference following Hunter’s absence. “Those situations, you know, I don’t want to speak for [general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah], but we feel very strongly about being solution-oriented with everything that comes about.”
Being “solutions-oriented” has come up when O’Connell or Adofo-Mensah have been asked about contract disputes.
It came up at the combine when Adofo-Mensah was asked about Kirk Cousins‘ status entering the final year of his contract. He also used the phrase to address Za’Darius Smith and Dalvin Cook‘s situations — neither player is with the team anymore.
However, this time around, it may be more likely that Hunter stays if the two sides can find the right number. O’Connell said he would “like to think” reaching an agreement for Hunter is possible.
“When I say ‘solution-oriented,’ that is definitely one of the solutions that hopefully we can work toward,” O’Connell said.
So far, being “solutions-oriented” hasn’t followed through with a new contract for any of the aforementioned players. Hunter’s case is the newest test of the new regime’s retooling of the roster.