Getty Outside linebacker Danielle Hunter of the Minnesota Vikings looks on prior to a game against the Indianapolis Colts in December 2022.
Minnesota Vikings defensive end Danielle Hunter showed face at the team’s facilities a day ahead of training camp, however, he’s not expected to be on the practice field with his teammates.
NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport reported on July 26 that while Hunter reported to training camp, “don’t expect him to practice” until his contract standoff with the Vikings “gets resolved.”
“Still a variety of options for how that would happen,” Rapoport added.
Hunter, who is seeking a lucrative contract extension, could realistically be traded, as Rapoport noted. But the fact he is in the building has sent the NFL a message that Minnesota is aiming to resolve the situation internally – without a trade partner.
Head coach Kevin O’Connell verbalized that sentiment.
“We’ll kind of move forward from here, with a positive mindset that hopefully Danielle Hunter is playing every single game for us this year, and having a major impact, like he’s done his whole career here,” O’Connell said in a media conference. “So, I think, just keeping the focus on the day-to-day, and understanding all though training camp is a finite amount of time to prepare for our season, we also want to make sure Danielle feels 100 percent comfortable and is excited about that, as well.”
Hunter is unhappy entering the final year of the five-year, $72 million contract he signed in 2018. After several restructures, he’s due just $5.5 million in cash left on the final year of the deal, which ranks 56th among edge rushers after he posted the sixth-most pressures in the league last season.
O’Connell saying that he hopes Hunter plays every single game for the Vikings is a major shift in how he spoke of the contract dispute earlier in the offseason as the situation seemed more ambiguous.
Kevin O’Connell’s Change in Tone About Danielle Hunter
GettyHead coach Kevin O’Connell of the Minnesota Vikings takes the field prior to a game against the Indianapolis Colts in December 2022.
The new Vikings regime has maintained a mantra of being “solutions-oriented” when it has come to its contract negotiations with many of the team’s veteran players they inherited over a year ago.
The term 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.
The term came up again when O’Connell addressed Hunter’s holdout from spring minicamps, for which Hunter incurred nearly $50,000 in fines for skipping.
“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,” O’Connell said in a June 13 media conference, addressing Hunter’s absence at minicamps.
“When I say ‘solution-oriented,’ that is definitely one of the solutions that hopefully we can work toward,” O’Connell said, adding that he would “like to think” resolving Hunter is possible.
So far, being “solutions-oriented” hasn’t followed through with a new contract for any of the aforementioned players.
But considering O’Connell expressing to “hopefully” to see Hunter in purple and gold, it’s a sign that talks should reach a resolution soon.
“The key to me is the dialogue between myself as the head coach and the player and making sure they know exactly my mindset and the big picture,” O’Connell added. “And what that looks like that can change, it can evolve, based upon, what Danielle, and I discuss as the best thing for him. And the starting point was, he showed up today, and he’s around his teammates, and he’s in our building. That’s day one.”
Vikings Fielded Trade Calls for Danielle Hunter: Report
Hunter’s absence at voluntary organized team activities (OTAs) in the spring sparked many teams to test the waters of a trade.
Rapoport reported in June that teams had been calling the Vikings about Hunter, giving Minnesota an idea of his trade value on the market.
“A somewhat murky future for Danielle Hunter in Minnesota. Here’s my understanding of where it stands: sources say that teams have been calling the Minnesota Vikings regarding Danielle Hunter,” Rapoport said. “He has, in fact, generated some trade interest. Now this is something that we’ve heard rumors about, really, for the last I would say several months as we try to figure out why. There are a couple of reasons. First of all, he is really, really good. Teams usually like really, really good players at premium positions like pass rusher.”