Post by marksp18 on Mar 17, 2022 15:17:09 GMT -6
If Hunter doesn’t sign long term, what happens? After Sunday he becomes all but untradeable. Whether the bonus is paid as a roster bonus or converted to a signing bonus, it all becomes dead cap if he’s traded after Sunday. That means a deal after Sunday would require the Vikings to absorb something like $29M in dead cap and Hunter goes to a new team who pays him peanuts. The Vikings literally won’t be able to afford the dead cap hit. And even if they did release a bunch of players to get rid of another player, the trade return would go up significantly because the new team is getting him at a massive financial discount.
And, if that bonus kicks in, then what? Does Hunter have all the leverage going into 2023 when he will make $5M? Some, be even then if the Vikings don’t extend him they can franchise him in 2024. The DE franchise tag now is $17.9M; adding 10% in 2023 to $19.7M and another 10% in 2024, and the price to franchise Hunter in 2024 would probably be about $22M.
Then what... he’s gone for sure, right? No, franchise him again for a 20% increase and he gets $26-27M in 2025. Then, he walks away in the 2026 offseason at age 30. That would be salaries of:
2022: $20M
2023: $5M
2024: $22M (only if he’s still good and not injured)
2025: $27M (also if he’s still good and not injured)
Or put a different way – if Hunter was a free agent right now, and we signed him for 4 years, about $74M would that be a good deal? It’s better than good that’s a phenomenal team deal – that’s 4 years at $18-19M per year in a league were Maxx Crosby is getting 4 @ $23.5 per year. So even if I’m off by a few million on the franchise number it’s still a fantastic value for the Vikings.
Hunter is the one that NEEDS to get a deal by Sunday or he’s playing out a situation where he’s under paid by $20-30M over the next 4 years with no long term injury security.
If they even dream that he is going to play in 2023 for 5M then they should be drug tested.
He will hold out and every agent working would tell him to hold out.
I disagree with him being desperate.
The Vikings are desperate because if they spread out some of his roster bonus then they take on more dead money in 2023.
They want to avoid doing that.
It's the Vikings choice.
Leave it as is and try to work around his 26M cap hit, trade him, extend him, or restructure some or all of the 18M.
Hunter knows he is getting 20M.
... and neither is this Chris guy.