Post by Purple Pain on May 26, 2021 15:33:35 GMT -6
Purple Insider: How will the Danielle Hunter situation play out?
purpleinsider.substack.com/p/how-will-the-danielle-hunter-situation
This is an unusual situation for the Vikings. In past years we have seen players with ongoing contract negotiations show up at OTAs. Two years ago Anthony Barr missed a day because he was waiting on an insurance policy and Mike Zimmer made a strong declaration that the team was not trying to trade him. Kyle Rudolph came to OTAs the following year when he was working on an extension. Things appeared adversarial at the time — at one point Rudolph said that there were teams interested in acquiring him. Eventually a new deal got done. Even Dalvin Cook’s extension talks turned awkward last year with Adam Schefter reporting that Cook wouldn’t attend Zoom meetings until a contract was signed. Cook ultimately came to camp and got a lucrative contract extension.
Hunter is in a more precarious spot than his peers. Not only did he miss the entire 2020 season with a neck injury, he also has 2021, 2022 and 2023 remaining on the deal that he signed in 2018. That’s a lot of contract for the team to rip up. The Vikings may be uncomfortable with setting a precedent that anyone who slips below market value during their deal can simply demand a new one.
However, Hunter has couple of fair points, starting with the fact that his deal didn’t just slip below market, it’s way behind his peers. The Vikings’ star edge rusher is set to make $12.75 million in cash in each of the next three seasons with only $3.3 million total guaranteed, according to OverTheCap.com. The highest paid pass rusher, Joey Bosa, will make around $77 million in cash by 2022.
So you might say: Why doesn’t he just play out 2021 and prove that he’s healthy? For starters, it would be very risky to take the field without much in the way of guaranteed money. Also consider that if he were to have a down year in 2021, it would significantly hurt his potential to negotiate an extension down the road.
If this thing already seemed complicated enough, this year’s free agency numbers for edge rushers may have made things more difficult on Hunter if he’s aiming to get a massive raise.
PFF’s cap analyst Brad Spielberger said on the Purple Insider podcast that Shaq Barrett’s underwhelming new contract made it tougher for Hunter to push for the high end of the market.
“If we had a normal offseason Barrett probably would have gotten $20 million and it would have been more palatable for Minnesota to say, ‘Alright we’ll go to $24-$25 million, yes there’s multiple years left on the deal and we’re negotiating early but we’ll go there,’” Spielberger said. “Now I think it might create an impasse.”
So both sides have a case. Can they find middle ground? What’s the timeline?
From a purely analytical perspective, it makes sense to trade Hunter. In recent years we have seen star defensive players like Jalen Ramsey and Khalil Mack bring back big hauls — even last year the Vikings paid out a decent dime for Yannick Ngakoue. The Vikings would get more building blocks in the form of draft capital and Hunter would find a new home that presumably went along with an extension.
But realistic trade scenarios are hard to find. Only a handful of teams have the current cap space to take on Hunter’s money. His new club would have to be comfortable with his health situation as well. The last time we spoke with GM Rick Spielman about Hunter’s recovery, he pointed to an Instagram video as evidence that Hunter was coming along well. An acquiring team would want proof that he’ll be back to 100% and/or protection in the form of compensation based on snap counts etc.
That makes the price tag tricky to determine. Is he worth what the Bears paid for Mack? Not at this juncture. But the Vikings don’t want to get robbed in a trade because of concerns over Hunter’s neck and pressure to move him. They also don’t want a guy taking up $17 million on the cap who’s pulling a Le’Veon Bell and sitting out the year.
If the staring contest continues throughout training camp, the Vikings can/will fine Hunter but that likely wouldn’t influence his position according to Spielberger.
“The fines don’t really do much and they’re not going to go after signing bonus money and things like that,” Spielberger said. “He has the money to fall back on.”
The Vikings’ timeline also makes a trade difficult. They spent top dollar on Dalvin Tomlinson and Patrick Peterson in the offseason with hopes of greatly improving the defense. They didn’t make moves to rebuild. Without Hunter there is no proven pass rusher on the team. In 2019 Hunter ranked sixth in the NFL in PFF’s Pass Rush Efficiency. Last year the top Viking was 34th and that player is now with the New York Giants.
What we have is two sides that need each other. If Hunter is set on getting a new contract, the team most likely to do it is the Vikings. And Mike Zimmer does not want to do battle with some of the NFL’s best quarterbacks without a top-notch pass rusher.
Recent history tells us they’ll find a middle ground. They did so with Barr, Rudolph and Cook. But it might not be quite as straight forward as those situations. As we’ve seen with other star players like Aaron Rodgers and Stefon Diggs, there can be festering bitterness.
Unlike Rodgers’s situation, there hasn’t been public statements or definitive reporting from ESPN or NFL Network reporters on Hunter’s situation. So we’ll wait. Maybe all summer. Maybe longer. Or maybe they’ll find that middle ground soon and the last lingering question of the offseason will be resolved soon.
Hunter is in a more precarious spot than his peers. Not only did he miss the entire 2020 season with a neck injury, he also has 2021, 2022 and 2023 remaining on the deal that he signed in 2018. That’s a lot of contract for the team to rip up. The Vikings may be uncomfortable with setting a precedent that anyone who slips below market value during their deal can simply demand a new one.
However, Hunter has couple of fair points, starting with the fact that his deal didn’t just slip below market, it’s way behind his peers. The Vikings’ star edge rusher is set to make $12.75 million in cash in each of the next three seasons with only $3.3 million total guaranteed, according to OverTheCap.com. The highest paid pass rusher, Joey Bosa, will make around $77 million in cash by 2022.
So you might say: Why doesn’t he just play out 2021 and prove that he’s healthy? For starters, it would be very risky to take the field without much in the way of guaranteed money. Also consider that if he were to have a down year in 2021, it would significantly hurt his potential to negotiate an extension down the road.
If this thing already seemed complicated enough, this year’s free agency numbers for edge rushers may have made things more difficult on Hunter if he’s aiming to get a massive raise.
PFF’s cap analyst Brad Spielberger said on the Purple Insider podcast that Shaq Barrett’s underwhelming new contract made it tougher for Hunter to push for the high end of the market.
“If we had a normal offseason Barrett probably would have gotten $20 million and it would have been more palatable for Minnesota to say, ‘Alright we’ll go to $24-$25 million, yes there’s multiple years left on the deal and we’re negotiating early but we’ll go there,’” Spielberger said. “Now I think it might create an impasse.”
So both sides have a case. Can they find middle ground? What’s the timeline?
From a purely analytical perspective, it makes sense to trade Hunter. In recent years we have seen star defensive players like Jalen Ramsey and Khalil Mack bring back big hauls — even last year the Vikings paid out a decent dime for Yannick Ngakoue. The Vikings would get more building blocks in the form of draft capital and Hunter would find a new home that presumably went along with an extension.
But realistic trade scenarios are hard to find. Only a handful of teams have the current cap space to take on Hunter’s money. His new club would have to be comfortable with his health situation as well. The last time we spoke with GM Rick Spielman about Hunter’s recovery, he pointed to an Instagram video as evidence that Hunter was coming along well. An acquiring team would want proof that he’ll be back to 100% and/or protection in the form of compensation based on snap counts etc.
That makes the price tag tricky to determine. Is he worth what the Bears paid for Mack? Not at this juncture. But the Vikings don’t want to get robbed in a trade because of concerns over Hunter’s neck and pressure to move him. They also don’t want a guy taking up $17 million on the cap who’s pulling a Le’Veon Bell and sitting out the year.
If the staring contest continues throughout training camp, the Vikings can/will fine Hunter but that likely wouldn’t influence his position according to Spielberger.
“The fines don’t really do much and they’re not going to go after signing bonus money and things like that,” Spielberger said. “He has the money to fall back on.”
The Vikings’ timeline also makes a trade difficult. They spent top dollar on Dalvin Tomlinson and Patrick Peterson in the offseason with hopes of greatly improving the defense. They didn’t make moves to rebuild. Without Hunter there is no proven pass rusher on the team. In 2019 Hunter ranked sixth in the NFL in PFF’s Pass Rush Efficiency. Last year the top Viking was 34th and that player is now with the New York Giants.
What we have is two sides that need each other. If Hunter is set on getting a new contract, the team most likely to do it is the Vikings. And Mike Zimmer does not want to do battle with some of the NFL’s best quarterbacks without a top-notch pass rusher.
Recent history tells us they’ll find a middle ground. They did so with Barr, Rudolph and Cook. But it might not be quite as straight forward as those situations. As we’ve seen with other star players like Aaron Rodgers and Stefon Diggs, there can be festering bitterness.
Unlike Rodgers’s situation, there hasn’t been public statements or definitive reporting from ESPN or NFL Network reporters on Hunter’s situation. So we’ll wait. Maybe all summer. Maybe longer. Or maybe they’ll find that middle ground soon and the last lingering question of the offseason will be resolved soon.
purpleinsider.substack.com/p/how-will-the-danielle-hunter-situation
... and neither is this Chris guy.
