Mpls (The FAN) \u2014 The Minnesota Vikings have given outside linebacker Danielle Hunter a hefty pay raise, paving the way for the team\u2019s best pass rusher to participate in practice after a months-long contract stalemate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Vikings announced Sunday on their website that they reached a new deal with Hunter, the three-time Pro Bowl pick with 71 sacks who will turn 29 in three months.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Hunter reported to training camp last week on schedule after skipping the offseason program and mandatory minicamp, but he has yet to join his teammates on the field. Head coach Kevin O\u2019Connell said Saturday that Hunter has been \u201cin the building\u201d and that they\u2019ve been in \u201cdaily dialogue\u201d about his physical and mental preparation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cDanielle Hunter is a very special player, and as soon as we can get him out here, you guys will see him out here,\u201d O\u2019Connell said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Hunter\u2019s previous contract called for a $4.9 million base salary. According to NFL Network, he\u2019ll make $17 million guaranteed this year with an opportunity to earn an additional $3 million in incentives. Hunter will still hit the free agent market after the season, unless he and the team strike a deal on an extension in the meantime.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Hunter\u2019s presence will be vital for a Vikings defense that has been one of the NFL\u2019s worst over the past three years. They allowed the second-most yards and the fourth-most points in the league in 2022, despite decent production by their primary edge rushers. Hunter had 10 1\/2 sacks, Za\u2019Darius Smith had 10 sacks and backups D.J. Wonnum and Patrick Jones had four sacks apiece.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Smith was since traded to Cleveland in a cost-cutting move, leaving Hunter as the only proven pass rusher on the roster. Marcus Davenport was signed as a free agent to push for a starting spot, but this remains one of the biggest questions surrounding the team this season.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI think Danielle\u2019s a phenomenal player,\u201d said defensive coordinator Brian Flores, who was hired to replace the fired Ed Donatell. \u201cI look forward to working with him.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Under Donatell, Hunter often found himself as a standup rusher in a three-point stance. The Vikings with Flores are aiming to get back to turning Hunter loose with his hand in the ground more often.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cVeteran players, they\u2019ve seen a lot of defense, coverages, fronts, stunts. I think terminology will probably be the one thing that\u2019s a little bit different, maybe, but some of it, there\u2019s some crossover from some things he\u2019s heard in the past so I don\u2019t think it\u2019ll take long for him to get up to speed,\u201d Flores said. \u201cAt the end of the day, we\u2019re telling him to go get the quarterback. There\u2019s really not much to that. So I think he\u2019ll be just fine.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Mpls (The FAN) \u2014 The Minnesota Vikings have given outside linebacker Danielle Hunter a hefty pay raise, paving the way for the team\u2019s best pass rusher to participate in practice after a months-long contract stalemate. The Vikings announced Sunday on their website that they reached a new deal with Hunter, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":274346,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-274345","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/csinewsnow.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/274345","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/csinewsnow.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/csinewsnow.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/csinewsnow.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/csinewsnow.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=274345"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/csinewsnow.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/274345\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":274371,"href":"https:\/\/csinewsnow.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/274345\/revisions\/274371"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/csinewsnow.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/274346"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/csinewsnow.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=274345"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/csinewsnow.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=274345"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/csinewsnow.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=274345"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}