Getty Outside linebacker Danielle Hunter of the Minnesota Vikings looks on prior to a game against the Indianapolis Colts in December 2022.
The Minnesota Vikings‘ pass rush has been serviceable this season and could end up considerably above-average if injuries don’t dictate otherwise.
Even in the best-case scenario, however, both Vikings starting outside linebackers are bound for free agency at the end of this season. Furthermore, Danielle Hunter’s new contract agreement stipulates the team can’t apply the franchise tag to him come March 2024. Either, or both, Hunter and Marcus Davenport could be gone come next season, which would puts Minnesota in clear need of help on the edge once the 2023 campaign ends.
Bleacher Report’s NFL staff suggested in a Monday, October 2, story that the Vikings take a run at Green Bay Packers pass-rusher Rashan Gary next spring. Gary is playing out the final year of his deal and is bound for free agency at the end of the season.
Davenport is on a one-year contract and has been injured for the majority of the season so far. That has really hurt the Vikings’ pass rush, as Danielle Hunter seems to be the only defender who can consistently get pressure, and Hunter is an impending free agent as well.
Gary is an elite athlete who specializes in getting after the quarterback with 26 career sacks, including 3.5 in the first four games of 2023. He would be a good replacement for Hunter, and it wouldn’t hurt to steal him away from one of the franchise’s biggest and oldest rivals. Spotrac estimates that the Vikings will have about $33 million in cap space, so they have the room to make this happen, too.
Rashan Gary Bounced Back Well From ACL Injury Suffered Last Season
GettyOutside linebacker Rashan Gary of the Green Bay Packers high-fives wide receiver Romeo Doubs in September 2023.
Gary would probably already have signed a contract extension with the Packers if he hadn’t torn his ACL against the Detroit Lions in Week 9 last year.
He had amassed 17 pressures, 12 quarterback hits and 6 sacks through eight games in 2022, all of which were top-10 categorical statistics at the season’s midway point. Gary is also only 25 years old and figures to be an elite edge-rusher for at least his next NFL contract, if not the next two, assuming relative health.
Green Bay backed off a deal for Gary, which every projection had at north of $100 million total, until the team could see how he rebounded from the ligament tear in his right knee. The linebacker has proven he’s back to his old self, producing 3.5 sacks and 6 QB hits in just 77 snaps as the Packers ease him back into a full-time role.
If Hunter leaves Minnesota in free agency next spring, the Vikings will be without a premier pass-rusher and Gary could provide them a long-term solution. If Minnesota re-signs Hunter and parts ways with Davenport that leaves a starting job open, and a combination of Hunter and Gary on the edge would secure a high-level pass rush for the Vikings for several years to come.
Vikings May Not Get Chance to Make Run at Rashan Gary
GettyOutside linebacker Rashan Gary of the Green Bay Packers.
The biggest hitch in a hypothetical plan of Minnesota’s to pursue Gary is that the Packers will probably do everything they can to avoid letting him hit free agency.
ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler predicted on October 3 that Green Bay will make an “aggressive play” to extend Gary at some point this winter.
“Gary’s return from a torn right ACL has been triumphant,” Fowler wrote. “Green Bay is bringing him along slowly, with the hope that he’s a three-down player by later in the year. The Packers typically try to lock up key players late in their contract years, so it wouldn’t surprise if the Packers make an aggressive play to secure Gary in November or December.”
Save for holding out a year or so on an extension following his ACL injury, Green Bay has more or less done right by Gary since drafting him in the first round in 2019 (No. 12 overall). If the Packers come correct with their offer, Gary probably won’t reach the free agent market next March.
Spotrac projects Gary’s market value at $26 million annually over four years, which equates to $104 million total. Most high-end players at premium positions in the NFL negotiate five-year deals and coming off an ACL injury, Gary figures to want the same.
An offer of five years at $130 million with roughly 70% of that total fully guaranteed ($90 million) is probably enough to keep Gary home in Green Bay. If the Packers try to lowball him, however, that could change the narrative.
But even if a lowball offer proves to be the eventual outcome, Green Bay holds the trump card of being able to apply the franchise tag to Gary and keep him under contract through 2024 while the two sides attempt to work out a deal. There aren’t a lot of other obvious candidates for the franchise tag on the Packers’ roster, as most of their primary defensive players are locked up on multiyear deals and most of their best offensive players will still be playing on their rookie contracts come 2024.
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Vikings Positioned to Make Run at Packers’ Star Edge-Rusher