Danielle Hunter answered one important question Tuesday by reporting with the rest of his veteran teammates for the opening of training camp. But that doesn’t mean the Pro Bowl pass rusher is happy with his contract or about to do any on-the-field work when practice begins Wednesday.
Welcome to the world of the NFL’s latest ploy for disgruntled players. Report to training camp, come up with a reason why you can’t practice and try to force the team’s hand to give you a contract extension. Previously, a player like Hunter would hold out, but the latest Collective Bargaining Agreement between the owners and players have made that a bad business decision.
Hunter didn’t show up for the Vikings’ two-day, mandatory minicamp and was subject to fines each day. If he repeated this in training camp, he would be subject to a $50,000 fine per day that the team could not forgive if a new contract is agreed upon.
Hunter, who led the Vikings with 10.5 sacks last season, is entering the final year of his contract and is owed only $5.5 million in base salary and incentives. That’s well below market value for a guy who has recorded double-digit sacks in four of his seven NFL seasons and is a key part of what new defensive coordinator Brian Flores is planning to get one of the NFL’s worst defenses on track.
Vikings coach Kevin O’Connell and general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah said all the right things in confirming Hunter reported during their press conferences Tuesday at TCO Performance Center.
“It’s going to be a day-to-day thing,” O’Connell said. “Danielle and I have had such good dialogue over these last few days, and really trying to build a plan that allows him to feel good about coming to work as a Minnesota Viking every single day.”
This sounds good but putting a positive public spin on a situation doesn’t mean there isn’t trouble behind the scenes.
This marks the first difficult contract issue that Adofo-Mensah and O’Connell have faced since taking over in the winter of 2022.
The situation moved to the front burner after last season, and Hunter made his unhappiness known by not attending any of the Vikings’ Organized Team Activities (which aren’t mandatory) and minicamp.
So if talks didn’t move forward at that point, are they going to now that Hunter is in the building, yet, refusing to put on a helmet? Teams might say that they don’t pay attention to distractions, but every coach hates them and the Hunter situation has the potential to turn into the definition of one.
The hangup in this situation likely isn’t what Hunter wants for 2023, but rather on a contract that would go into the future. He will turn 29 on Oct. 29 and missed all of 2020 to fix a herniated disk in his neck and played in only seven games in 2021 before suffering a torn pectoral muscle.
The Vikings’ reluctance to give Hunter guaranteed money into the future makes sense, but after trading pass rusher Za’Darius Smith to Cleveland following a 10-sack season, Hunter’s absence would cost the Vikings a total of 20.5 sacks from 2022.
The clock is now ticking on a resolution between the Vikings and Hunter. Best case, they come to an agreement on a multiyear (three?) extension and the situation goes away. Worst case, Adofo-Mensah is forced to trade Hunter.
That’s less than ideal, but having Hunter watch numerous training camp practices, and having the Vikings have to answer questions about it, will become a major headache.
One thing is certain: How Adofo-Mensah and O’Connell handle this should tell us plenty about how they deal with adversity.
