Here’s a fun fact for all you football fans: The 2023 NFL trade deadline is October 31st at 3 p.m. central.
What could be spookier than that? For Minnesota Vikings fans, the possibility of losing Danielle Hunter to a playoff contender is just that.
Pro Football Focus’ Brad Spielberger listed ten trades that NFL teams should make ahead of the trade deadline. Spielberger has Hunter being traded to the Jacksonville Jaguars for, what feels like underwhelming trade compensation.
The Jaguars take on the remainder of Hunter’s one-year contract for a 2024 fourth-round pick (currently 118), along with a third- and fourth-round pick in 2025.
The acquired contract here is actually a bit more expensive, given Hunter has incentives tied to sacks. He already has eight on the season, but that won’t make an impact until after the 2023 season…Hunter was one of just three players in 2022 to rack up at least 60 quarterback pressures and 40 defensive stops, adding 12 sacks and an 86.3 overall grade. So far in 2023, Hunter has 21 quarterback pressures and eight sacks, though a good bit of that production has come on clean-up work as opposed to consistently winning pass-rush snaps early on. Nevertheless, he’s a very talented all-around player who turns only 29 years old two days before the trade deadline.
Spielberger also explains why it benefits Jacksonville to have a pass-rusher like Hunter for their last season before paying Trevor Lawrence.
For the Minnesota side of things, they are ripping it down to the studs if Hunter is out. This pass rush does nothing without Hunter, who is tied with 2021 Defensive Player of the Year T.J. Watt for the league lead in sacks. This defense relies on getting to the quarterback early and often. Without Hunter, that makes life more difficult for Flores and his staff.
This organization takes a lot of pride in their team. Tanking a season, especially one where they haven’t necessarily played horribly doesn’t seem to be in their DNA. So, until I see it, I can’t believe a Hunter trade is on the horizon.
Especially not for that compensation. Hunter is probably reaching the latter years of his prime, but he’s still in his prime. You don’t give up a prime pass-rusher for a late day-two and two day-three picks.
