Trade for Danielle Hunter?

[kcbubb]

Price maybe a 2nd and 4th? Sounds too cheap?

https://vikingsterritory.com/2022/ge...edium=facebook

Two players for the Minnesota Vikings have chunky cap hits for the 2022 budget – Kirk Cousins and Danielle Hunter.

Cousins is a polarizing athlete, so the get-rid-of-him fodder is all over the internet. These are some teams Cousins might join if the Vikings actually trade their QB1. His $45 million cap hit is the obvious place to start for a team seeking to fix its underwater cap situation.


Trading Cousins would save $35 million in cap dollars for the 2022 season. New general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah may or may not trade Cousins. We shall see. When Minnesota rolled out its new head coach one week ago, it sure didn’t sound like Kevin O’Connell endorsed a Cousins trade.


Danielle Hunter
Dec 23, 2019; Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA; Minnesota Vikings defensive end Danielle Hunter. Mandatory Credit: Brace Hemmelgarn-USA TODAY Sports
Hunter is the other question mark. His cap hit in 2022 is $26 million, a steep figure for a player who missed 79% of all football games during the last two seasons. A healthy Hunter is a beastly productive player, setting the tone for a usually-good Vikings defense. Without Hunter, Minnesota’s defense stinks, guaranteed to collapse in the final two minutes of the 2nd Quarter and 4th Quarter. It’s like clockwork.


So, like Cousins, trading the expensive player elsewhere – Hunter, in this case – is on the docket for discussion. Should the Vikings invest megabucks in an EDGE rusher who plays 21% of the time? Probably not. However, Hunter’s injury history only began in 2020. Before that, he was durable.

Fans tend to believe Hunter would fetch a 1st-Round draft pick inside of a trade. The healthy version of the LSU alumnus probably would. Yet, per Pro Football Focus, the “1st-Round stuff” may be overstating value.

In an article by Brad Spielberger from Pro Football Focus detailing potential offseason trades, Hunter was sent to the Buffalo Bills – just like Stefon Diggs – for a substantially lower sum than 1st-Round draft capital.


Per Spielberger, Buffalo would send a 2nd-Rounder and 4th-Rounder to Minnesota for the 27-year-old Hunter. That trade package certainly isn’t insulting, but it is not the “1st-Rounder and change” some Vikings fans believe Hunter is worth. Spielberger wrote about the hypothetical trade:

“Hunter will still be just 27 years old in Week 1 of 2022 and is a force multiplier for any defense. The Bills used their first and second-round picks in 2021 on edge defenders Gregory Rousseau and Carlos Basham, but all three players can also kick inside and line up opposite guards. Hunter could be the final piece that puts the Bills’ roster over the edge. Last but not least, a reunion with former Vikings wide receiver Stefon Diggs could help ease the transition for Hunter to a new franchise. However, it could be too hard for Adofo-Mensah to “sell low” on an elite pass-rusher.”
Brad Spielberger | Pro Football Focus
It is unclear who is more likely to be traded, Cousins or Hunter. Cousins is durable. Hunter has been the antithesis of durable as of late. To a QB-needy team, Cousins likely commands a 1st-Rounder simply because his position is considered “more important” than the defensive line.

But if Hunter is the one traded, it is not a no-brainer for his trade value to send a 1st-Round pick in exchange to the Vikings. The conversation needs adjustment. To date, trading Hunter is perceived through a lens of snagging a 1st-Round draft choice – sometimes in the Top 10 spots.

Hunter is a fantastic football player who will spend 2022 trying to prove his injury maladies were outliers. If he departs the Vikings, a 1st-Rounder is not the bottom shelf for his trade value. Adjust your expectations.

[kcbubb]

https://www.forbes.com/sites/nichola...-casualty/amp/

There is no doubt that, when healthy, Danielle Hunter is one of the better edge rushers in the NFL. The problem for the Minnesota Vikings is that, as they look to get under the salary cap this offseason, recent instances where he has been healthy have been all too rare.


With only two years left on his deal before he is scheduled to hit free agency, the issue of Hunter's future is one of the more complicated ones for new Vikings general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah.


Hunter played only seven games last season before tearing a pectoral muscle. He previously missed the entirety of the 2020 campaign due to a neck injury that required surgery, yet when he has been on the field he has consistently produced.


Indeed, Hunter registered six sacks in 2021 and, prior to his lost 2020 campaign, had registered double-digit sacks in three of the previous four seasons.

In an ideal world, the Vikings would like to retain a player who can deliver that kind of production, but Minnesota and Hunter are in far from an ideal situation.

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The Vikings are set to switch from a 4-3 to a 3-4 defense, meaning a potentially awkward fit for Hunter as a stand-up pass rusher on a three-man front. Of even greater concern, however, are the financials.


According to Over The Cap, the Vikings are scheduled to be $16 million over the projected 2022 salary cap. Hunter carries a cap hit of over $26 million in 2022, with a roster bonus of $18 million due on March 20. His contract makes up 12.5 per cent of the Vikings cap spending for 2022, this for a player who has played just over a fifth of Minnesota's games since the start of 2020.

It is for those reasons that Ben Gosseling of The Star Tribune described Hunter's future with the team as an "open question". Gosseling mooted the possibility of a cap-lowering contract extension for Hunter, yet with his injury issues, a parting of the ways cannot be ruled out.

The Vikings would save just under $3 million by cutting him, but if they released him with a post-June 1 designation it would give them a little shy of $14 million to ease their salary cap woes and free up space to sign draft picks over the summer.

Even with the switch to a 3-4 defense, the multiplicity of modern-day NFL fronts means the Vikings could likely find a role in which a player of Hunter's talents could thrive.

His recent injury problems and their lack of financial wiggle room may well quell their appetite to do that, though, and as the Vikings move to a new era with a new general manager and head coach, they could do so without a player who at one point looked like being a franchise mainstay.

[Sassy Squatch]

Absolutely not. That's an awful idea.

[dlphg9]

I'd give them a 2nd and a 4th.

[Sassy Squatch]

So you're willing to give up a 2nd and 4th for a guy that's missed 26 of the Vikings last 33 games and immediately accounts for almost 20 million of your cap? No, that's absolutely reeruned.

[kcbubb]

https://vikingsterritory.com/2022/ge...ossibility/amp

The Minnesota Vikings dedicated the 2022 offseason to wholesale change, replacing general manager Rick Spielman with Kwesi Adofo-Mensah and head coach Mike Zimmer with presumptive candidate, Kevin O’Connell.

The embracement of change is exciting, but sometimes change doesn’t proceed exactly as one might expect.


Adofo-Mensah has an impending decision on the future of EDGE rusher Danielle Hunter, a marvelous defensive player beset by injuries during the last two seasons. If Hunter was healthy in 2020 and 2021, extending his contract — at any price — would be a no-brainer. However, Hunter only played in 21% of Vikings games since the start of 2020, casting into doubt his long-term durability.



Aug 27, 2021; Kansas City, Missouri, USA; Minnesota Vikings defensive end Danielle Hunter. Mandatory Credit: Denny Medley-USA TODAY Sports
Because Adofo-Mensah is new and Hunter’s contract is up in the air, Hunter could feasibly leave the Vikings this spring.


And due to a recent series of events, the possibility is more likely than ever.

Foremost, defensive line coach turned co-defensive coordinator Andre Patterson left the Vikings this week, embarking on his next career chapter with Brian Daboll and the New York Giants. Hunter was tight with Patterson, evidenced by a tweet moments after the Patterson-to-Giants news broke.


Hunter rarely tweets, so this post illuminates his lament of Patterson exiting the franchise. Of course, this does not guarantee Hunter is disgruntled or leaving, but the exodus of his trusted coach isn’t ideal for Hunter staying with the Vikings. He could reasonably end up reuniting with Patterson in New York. Football relationships like this matter.


Next, Hunter’s injury track record (as of late anyway) makes it less likely for Adofo-Mensah to jump into a Hunter extension with two feet. Availability is king in sports, and Hunter’s has been teensy in the last two years. It is not a rubberstamp that Adofo-Mensah believes Hunter is worth $25-$30 million per season.

On this topic, Hunter is at a spot — he’ll be 28 years old this season — where he’ll desire one humongous contract. Hunter famously played on a team-friendly deal with the Vikings, orchestrated by the master of such deals — Rick Spielman. Teammates Eric Kendricks and Adam Thielen also performed on reasonable deals in the last few years. Hunter won’t be interested in team-friendly anything this time around — you can take that to the bank. This is his last-best chance to hit it big with the Vikings or elsewhere. He’s aware of it. His agent is aware of it.

Too, the era of change in Minnesota is an inherent hurdle for keeping the Vikings, as a whole, status quo. Adofo-Mensah will evaluate Hunter and Kirk Cousins, the two salary-cap magnets on the roster. Retaining Cousins and Hunter would be “more of the same” in an offseason already defined by “change it up.” Switching up Cousins or Hunter would be a preordained confirmation that a foundational makeover is indeed in full effect.

Last, Mike Zimmer is gone. Who knows if Hunter liked or disliked Zimmer — the consensus in the aftermath of Zimmer’s termination is some did and some didn’t. If he felt Zimmer aided his rise to stardom — Zimmer emphatically did just that — perhaps Hunter would like a fresh start. This brand of Vikings defensive leadership, presumably led by Ed Donatell, is different. Some players take the swap of coaches as a line in the sand to pick a different path. That could be now for Hunter.


Thankfully for Adofo-Mensah, Hunter doesn’t quite have the leverage he possessed at the end of the 2019 season. The flurry of injuries substantially impacted Hunter’s future.

You should not be surprised if Hunter is traded while his stock is relatively high.

[kccrow]

For a 2nd and 4th, I couldn't run to the phone fast enough to make that deal.

You'd inherit 2 years remaining on his deal and could convert that 18 million roster bonus to a signing bonus to bring his hits to 11 million and 14.5 million, which would be palatable by releasing Clark with no rush to extend him.

That said, I can't fathom it not taking at least one first for a guy that's going to hit the QB 35+ times a year.

[smithandrew051]

He’s played 7 games over the last 2 years. Pass.

Keep the picks. Get younger and cheaper.

[kcbubb]

Investing in Hunter is definitely risky but if he’s healthy, wow!!! You don’t ever get a chance to acquire DE’s like Hunter. What’s your risk tolerance? His ceiling is way high than Orlando brown and he’s a perfect scheme fit. I’d go for it. He’s young at 27. I’d even give our first and get Hunter and a 4th and 5th back. He has potential to be the best DE in the league and has numbers to back it up when healthy.

[dlphg9]

Originally Posted by Superturtle

So you're willing to give up a 2nd and 4th for a guy that's missed 26 of the Vikings last 33 games and immediately accounts for almost 20 million of your cap? No, that's absolutely reeruned.

He say our one year for COVID I believe. If that's not the case, then I change my mind.


Brb

Back, he had a bad neck. No thanks.

[Sassy Squatch]

Originally Posted by dlphg9

He say our one year for COVID I believe. If that's not the case, then I change my mind.


Brb

Uhh. No. It was neck surgery.

[Halfcan]

broke dick

[DRM08]

$45M cap hit for Cousins. That is incredible, haha

[Why Not?]

Is this assuming we can pull off the Justin Jefferson trade prior?

[duncan_idaho]

His contract really isn’t that bad, if you could get him to play on it.

They restructure the big balloon roster bonus this year into a signing bonus like crow suggested, and it’s really a bargain if he’s healthy.

Keys are the prices- what does he cost to acquire. And is he willing to play for the coming deal?

He would be 29 entering free agency if he plays out this contract. Probably not getting a mega deal at that point but also not playing for peanuts.

If you could get him to agree to play and set some performance bonus sweeteners in there as a reason to go along with the restructure and play out his last 2 years, it’s a major upgrade for them.

Gotta do your due diligence on it, at least. Creativity and openness to oblique operations are paramount for Veach and co.