Hunter's Contract Situation 2.0 - one-year deal worth $20M

I like Hunter, so I hope an extension is in the works here. He's criminally underpaid right now. They have cap space to sign the rest of their class and in theory extend him if it's structured properly. The real question is what the two sides see as an appropriate value. My concern is that Hunter is going to take the position that he's been underpaid for his career and want to make that up so to speak and I don't think Kwesi is going to agree on that point. Neither will other GMs for that matter.

He was criminally OVERPAID for 2020-21, getting $24.5 million for playing 7 games.  Is he giving that money back?  No.  But, I really don't understand why NFL players seem incapable of understanding their contracts.  Za'darius Smith throws a hissy fit and whines his way to Cleveland after Year 1 of a contract he willingly signed.  Danielle Hunter won't step on a field without more money because...he didn't know how much he was set to get paid in 2023?  Because he was promised by a FIRED executive they would revisit his situation?    The NFL is a cutthroat business, players should get what they can when they can-WHEN THEY SIGN THEIR CONTRACTS!  Get a lot of guaranteed money, get a lot up front, and then outperform your contract so the next one has a lot of guaranteed money and a lot up front. 

Danielle Hunter has gotten a lot of money from the Vikings...underpaid for a premier edge rusher?  Maybe.  Overpaid for a guy missed a sizeable chunk of the last few years?  Maybe.  If he feels slighted?  Again, go out and kick ass, rack up 15 sacks and when the Vikings try to resign you next year?  Tell them to kiss your ass and take S25 million a year from Jacksonville...and don't get pissy when one of the years has a base salary of $2.5 million because they gave $80 million when you signed it.

You might have a point if NFL teams couldn't cut these guys at any time. They don't have to honor contracts, so it is understandable players try to exercise the only power they have in these situations.

I would definitely take issue with the adjective "dominant". Did Hunter somehow end up with 10.5 sacks? Yes. Did he singlehandedly wreck any offense the way Za'Darius Smith did against,say, Arizona? No. Did he even seem to have an outsized impact on any game? Not that I recall.

In fact, what sticks out to me about Danielle Hunter's 2022 season were all the plays he didn't make. Runners shaking him off in the backfield to turn a potentially negative run into a positive gain...and this was not a Hunter-only issue, that seemed to be an issue for the entire D-Line...but also, him lining up so far outside that he would have to run 30 yards just to be able to wave at the QB.

That the Donashell provided every QB with a wide open WR crossing the field at 7-10 yards downfield while Hunter was making his way from somewhere in the West Metro towards the pocket didn't lead to a lot of pressure. And hence, very few series, much less games where Hunter lived in the pocket as he had 2016-2019, and even his short stint healthy in 2021. He had 5.5 sacks in three games...Washington, Indianapolis, and the Giants, and I ask again, did he really seem to have that much of an impact in any of those games? I would say no, if someone else remembers differently, feel free to enlighten me.

But, all of this comes back to one thing that seems to escape Danielle and his agents. Yes, you are supposed to be paid $4.9 million for 17 games (hopefully, but unlikely, plus three or four more)of action this year. That is low for an edge rusher in the NFL, I agree. However, you got paid $24.5 million to play 6.5 games over two seasons...roughly four million for every sack you provided over that span. And, all NFL players get paid their salaries while injured, or come to some settlement with the team that releases them when they are unable to play. So, Danielle isn't giving that money back. But, Danielle (or his agents)do not seem bothered by the inherent inequity of you b*tching for more money now while you were cashing checks back then.

I could understand the mindset they have if the Vikings were, out of the blue, asking Hunter to accept a pay cut to $4.9 million this year (and, oh yeah, by skipping workouts, Hunter flushed $200,000 down the drain),but they aren't. This is the deal Hunter and his reps NEGOTIATED just a couple years ago. No one held a gun to his head and and like the Godfather said "Your signature or your brains are going to be on this contract". He signed it willingly. Did he do so under the impression that Spielman would renegotiate before 2023? Possibly, but in the world of the NFL, wagering that anyone will have their job three years hence is a less than 50/50 proposition. Kwesi Adofo-Mensah didn't promise Hunter anything (that we know of) and isn't reneging on anything.

That leaves Hunter and his crew in an unenviable position, I don't deny that. But, what Hunter could, quite easily do, is take out a mondo-huge insurance policy for what he thinks his future earnings should be...say $75 million, and, as I have said before, outplay his salary. 15 sacks and DPOTY consideration, and anytime the Vikings approach him about a contract negotiation tell them to ever so kindly f*$% themselves in the ear hole. That is option A.

Option B would be to whine and moan, not show up to mini-camp, or training camp, get fined a bunch, lowering his effective salary for '23 even more, show up and fake injury, earn himself the malcontent and/or injury-prone label and spend the rest of his career in Jadeveon Clowney mode...taking 1 year contract after 1 year contract always thinking this is going to be the team I prove I am worth that $75 million to, but never seeming to actually achieve that. Still making a damn fine living, but never what you have allowed your agents to convince you are worth and you have been wronged by everybody.

Danielle seems to be edging every so slowly towards Option B. And, that's too bad, but I'm not going to shed any tears for a guy who took $24 million for next to nothing only to be insulted to take $5 million for doing something.

In the end though, I think this will all end up being moot, as the Vikings will cave-the situation at Edge being what it is-and just throw a buttload of money at Hunter to shut him up. I, in case you can't tell, am opposed to that. But, the Vikings don’t pay me, my future earnings are not reliant on the franchise having success, so? Whatever, do what you do. But, if Hunter has another fictiously "dominant" season? What then?