The Vikings’ attempt to get Danielle Hunter on the practice field and end his “hold in,” appeared to be headed in the wrong direction Saturday morning.
ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler reported the Vikings were open to trading the star pass rusher after he stayed away from offseason workouts and the first three days of training camp practices because of his desire for a new contract that would replace the $4.9 million base salary he was owed for 2023.
Shortly after Fowler’s report, Vikings coach Kevin O’Connell presented a different side of things when asked multiple questions about Hunter’s situation. Hunter had avoided being fined $50,000 a day during camp by showing up at TCO Performance Center but he wasn’t present for practices.
“We are still kind of in that ongoing process daily where Danielle is in the building,” O’Connell said. “I’m having daily dialogue personally with him. … My hope is that we can work towards him being out on the practice field sooner rather than later. He’s been great and just looking forward to taking it a day at a time. I have not tried to hide my feelings. Danielle Hunter is a very special player and as soon as we can get him out here you guys will see him out here and our fans will see him out here.”
This response could have been interpreted two ways: 1) O’Connell was simply deflecting the question and wasn’t prepared to say that Hunter was most likely going to be traded. 2) O’Connell knew far more than we did and was confident something would get done.
It proved to be the latter scenario. Hunter reportedly agreed to a one-year contract on Sunday morning that will pay him $17 million guaranteed with $3 million in incentives tied to sacks.
Let’s take a look at what this agreement means from a few different angles.