Tag: Brad Spielberger

PFF sends Danielle Hunter to AFC South

Analysts continue to link Minnesota Vikings outside linebacker Danielle Hunter to the Jacksonville Jaguars

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.

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Pro Football Focus names best move that Ravens made during 2022 offseason

Pro Football Focus named the best move the Ravens made in the 2022 offseason

The offseason in the NFL is when teams like to view the talent that they already have and maximize their roster to the fullest. Sometimes, this means moving on from key contributors, even if it means trading away a productive player that could help the team in the short and long term.

In an article by Brad Spielberger of Pro Football Focus, he named the best offseason move for all 16 AFC teams. When it came to Baltimore, Spielberger believed the best move the team made was trading wide receiver Marquise Brown and pick No. 100 in the 2022 NFL Draft for the No. 23 overall pick. When explaining his reasoning, Spielberger said the team got a great talent in Iowa Center Tyler Linderbaum with the No. 25 overall pick, which the team acquired by packaging No. 23.

“The Ravens subsequently traded down from pick No. 23 to No. 25 in the 2022 NFL Draft, adding the No. 130 pick from the Buffalo Bills. So, all told, Baltimore gave up Brown and pick No. 100 for Picks 25 and 130. The 25th overall pick was then used to select Iowa center Tyler Linderbaum, whose 95.4 overall grade in 2021 was the best mark ever given to a center since PFF started grading college games.”

Brown was coming off of his best season as a pro in Baltimore, notching his first 1,000 yard season. He has potential to get plenty of targets as a receiver in Arizona despite the Cardinals having DeAndre Hopkins as their No. 1 option.

“This isn’t a knock on Brown, who’s coming off a career-best 91 reception, 1,008-yard season, but it resembles the tough decisions good franchises have to make to sustain success. The Ravens avoiding top-of-market paydays on Marquise Brown and tackle Orlando Brown Jr. while adding elite talent on rookie contracts will go a very long way in keeping a talented roster around quarterback Lamar Jackson if (when) he finally agrees to a big-money extension.”

The move was a win for both sides. It was later revealed after the trade that Brown had requested to move on, so Baltimore got a potential Pro Bowl center in Linderbaum while the wideout will reunite with his college quarterback Kyler Murray in Arizona.