Danielle Hunter Contract: 1 Year Better than None
When my initial four-year contract as President of the Tennessee Titans neared its conclusion, I signed a one-year extension.
My good friend, who was our offensive coordinator — Mike Heimerdinger — saw me that day and said with a grin, “One is better than none!”
Danielle Hunter Contract: 1 Year Better than None
That’s exactly how Vikings GM Kwesi Adofo-Mensah, Coach Kevin O’Connell, and Defensive Coordinator Brian Flores should be feeling about resolving top pass rusher Danielle Hunter’s contract impasse as he has signed a new one-year contract for $17 million with $3 million in available incentives.
The Vikings football leadership knew that without the three-time Pro Bowler in Hunter, the Vikings pass rush would have difficulty getting consistent pressure on the quarterback, which would spell trouble for the Vikings inexperienced and questionable cornerback group. I think it’s a big win for the organization to get Hunter back, even if it’s only a one-year deal, and not trade him as had been rumored at times this past offseason.
The possibility of earning $20 million this year is nice for Hunter and puts him among the top 10 paid edge rushers, but he clearly was looking for a long-term deal in the $22-24 million per year range where Khalil Mack, Maxx Crosby, and Bradley Chubb rank below top paid rushers T.J. Watt, Joey Bosa and Myles Garrett who are at $25-28 million (and Nick Bosa is holding out for an extension that will likely hit $30 million per year).
Hunter did receive a no-franchise tag clause for 2024 as part of this deal. He turns 29 years old in October, so the team will be able to see how Hunter performs this season in Flores’ scheme and then decide if they want to step up with a longer-term commitment that includes a significant guarantee if Hunter agrees to the deal rather than leaving as will be his prerogative.
He says he wants to be a Viking for life, so the team should have a reasonable chance to re-sign him if they’re happy with his play and he stays healthy with his injury history that includes a lost season in 2020 with a neck injury and only seven games played in 2021 due to a pectoral injury. But he did play a full season in 2022 and played well in DC Ed Donatell’s less aggressive 3-4 defense as he came on in the second half of the season and wound up with 10.5 sacks (including 7.5 in the last 10 games), 22 QB hits and12 tackles-for-loss. It was his fourth season with double-digit sacks.
Now the Vikings have Hunter to pair at outside linebacker/edge rusher with free agent signee Marcus Davenport who is a former first-round pick of the Saints in 2018, had nine sacks in 2021 but dipped to only a half-sack last season as he battled injuries that cost him two games and limited him to nine starts. Like Hunter, Davenport is playing on a one-year deal (for $13 million) and hopes to have a great season to set up a long-term deal.
The Vikings also have D.J. Wonnum (8 sacks in 2021, 4 sacks last season, and a potential free agent next March) and Patrick Jones (4 sacks in 2022) to relieve the starters or line up with them on obvious passing downs. Flores also will be more aggressive in pursuit of the quarterback by sending blitzers such as safety Harrison Smith and inside linebackers Brian Asamoah and Jordan Hicks.
The Vikings’ defense looks much better today with Hunter back at practice and seemingly satisfied contractually but with a big incentive to go out and have another Pro Bowl season that is close to or better than his career-high of 14.5 sacks in 2018 and 2019. If that happens, the Vikings’ chances to repeat as NFC North champs look much better.
Observations from Early Training Camp:
The energy is great at camp, with an optimistic feeling at practices among the team and fans watching. The team has begun practicing in full pads, and the intensity has increased as it always does when the pads come on.
I’m closely watching first-round wide receiver Jordan Addison who looks quick and smooth in his route running and has shown good hands on contested catches early on. It’s a good sign that he’s fully recovered from the minor injury that kept him out of OTAs and minicamp.
The competition will be interesting to watch between him and K.J. Osborn for the No. 2 wide receiver spot alongside Justin Jefferson (who looks great as always while he fully participates in camp despite his extension not yet being completed).
If they stay healthy, both Addison and Osborn will play a lot together in three-wide receiver sets that were used more than two tight ends in O’Connell’s first season (although he wants to get plenty of snaps with tight ends T.J. Hockenson and Josh Oliver playing together which would aid the running game and Oliver is being counted on to be a bigger part of the passing game than he was in Baltimore the last two seasons when he was one of the league’s best blocking tight ends).
I’m also focusing on the cornerback competition, the biggest question mark for the 2023 Vikings defense. Vets Byron Murphy, Andrew Booth, Akayleb Evans, and Joejuan Williams all were moving well this week but can they all stay healthy after battling injuries last season?
Third-round pick Mekhi Blackmon also shows athleticism and should be in the mix, and we’ll see where fourth-round safety/slot corner Jay Ward fits in the secondary along with being a special teams fixture.
In the weeks ahead, I’ll have more on this competition for the two starting outside corner spots and the slot corner position that is expected to be manned by Murphy in passing situations which opens up his outside corner spot since he’s scheduled to be CB 1 with his two-year, $17.5 million free agent contract signed in March.
Around the NFL Observations:
1. It was certainly surprising to see Aaron Rodgers change from the self-centered player who demanded and received every last dollar from the Packers (especially after they drafted Jordan Love) to the team-focused QB who just agreed to take a $35 million pay cut over this year and in 2024 from the Jets.
His renegotiated contract is $112.5 million over three years plus three voidable years to lower the cap hits early on. He now has $75 million (guaranteed) coming over the 2023 and 2024 seasons.
Rodgers helped the Jets with this contract’s structure, including low cap numbers of $9 million this year and $17.2 million next year.
This restructure works well for both Rodgers and the Jets over the next two years, and then Rodgers has a no-tag clause for 2025, so he can hit free agency or re-sign with the Jets if he still wants to play. He also has a no-trade clause. There’s huge dead money potential for the Jets down the road, but they’ll readily accept that in exchange for a couple of playoff seasons and perhaps postseason success with a future Hall of Famer at the helm.
Rodgers obviously can afford to give up some money in the contract, knowing he can make it up in endorsements, especially if he leads the Jets to the playoffs and a possible Super Bowl. It’s what Tom Brady often did with the Patriots and Bucs to give his teams the ability to provide a better supporting cast for an elite quarterback who wants to win big (and we know Rodgers would love to make the Packers regret their decision to move on to Love). We should soon see if the signing of Dalvin Cook will be one of the offshoots of the new Rodgers contract.
Jeff Diamond is a former Vikings GM, former Tennessee Titans President and was selected NFL Executive of the Year after the Vikings’ 15-1 season in 1998. He now works for the NFL agent group IFA based in Minneapolis and does other sports consulting and media work along with college/corporate speaking. Follow him and direct message him on Twitter– @jeffdiamondnfl
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