Danielle Hunter Could Be on the Move
Josh Frey
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The Minnesota Vikings have been relatively quiet throughout the free agency period other than a couple moves here and there. The defense has some notable players in LB Jordan Hicks and DT Harrison Phillips, but otherwise the moves have been marginal. In fact, the departures from the 2021 squad have been just as notable. Tyler Conklin is now headed the New York Jets after a breakout season as the Vikings starting TE in replacement of Irv Smith Jr., and Michael Pierce was cut. Today, the latest news suggests that even Danielle Hunter could be on the move.
As Ben Goessling mentions in the above tweet, the Vikings owe Danielle Hunter an $18 million bonus on Sunday, which means the ante has been pushed in order to get a deal done. Of course, a big reason behind a trade search likely comes with the injury questions. Hunter has played a grand total of seven games over the past two seasons–out of 33 possible. 2020 was obviously eliminated because of a neck injury while Hunter’s 2021 season was cut short because of a torn pec.
With a trade in the next few days, the Vikings can save nearly $19 million against the cap in 2022 and an additional $5 million in 2023. Then of course, there would be some draft capital attached to Hunter, especially if a team trading for him is convinced he is healthy and at 100%.
One team to keep an eye on in this situation would be the Dallas Cowboys. Dallas just missed out on keeping their star EDGE Randy Gregory, who flip-flopped at the last minute and decided to sign in Denver. Dallas also has an embarrassment of riches in this draft–owning eight picks inside the first five rounds. If the Vikings are going to trade Hunter, they should hold out to get at least two of those picks.
At the end of the day though, a Hunter trade makes very little sense on this timeline. By bringing back Kirk Cousins, Minnesota has made it clear that they want to win right now. By trading Hunter, the Vikings are getting rid of one of their top-three players on the roster. The “best ability is availability” argument could be made, but if Hunter was able to comeback from a serious neck injury, it makes sense that he’d make a full recovery from a torn pec as well. Additionally, the Vikings could very easily restructure this contract in order to push his cap hit down the road, similar to what they did with Cousins. We’ll see what happens in the next couple of days, but it’s certainly a strange time in Minnesota.
