Getty Edge rusher Danielle Hunter of the Minnesota Vikings reacts after sacking the quarterback during a game against the Washington Commanders in November 2022.
Should the Minnesota Vikings ultimately decide to trade Danielle Hunter, there will be no shortage of suitors and the return will be substantial.
ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler offered educated speculation on two elements of a potential Hunter swap. The most important is that the Vikings would “prefer to retain” their 2022 sack leader, though Kwesi Adofo-Mensah will be ready to deal if a rival franchise comes correct with a real offer. The second is that said offer likely starts with a second-round pick in return, or a player of equal value, and goes up from there.
With that value assumption as a baseline, Gary Davenport of Bleacher Report on Tuesday, June 13, examined a handful of potential trade partners for Hunter. The most substantial draft package Minnesota might receive in one of these hypothetical deals comes from the New York Jets and while it doesn’t include a second-round pick, it is a sizable haul for Hunter.
Trading Danielle Hunter to Jets in Line With Vikings’ Recent Personnel Trend
GettyOutside linebacker Danielle Hunter of the Minnesota Vikings sacks quarterback Derek Carr of the Las Vegas Raiders during a game in September 2019.
Davenport’s pitch would see the Jets send the Vikings a third-round pick and a fourth-round pick in 2024 as well as a fifth-round selection in 2025. New York would then be able to team Hunter up with Quinnen Williams and rookie first-rounder Will McDonald (No. 15 overall) along its defensive front.
The Jets also have veterans Carl Lawson and John Franklin-Myers and second-year pro Jermaine Johnson on the roster. But Lawson has been a massive bust and is in the last year of his contract, and Johnson was OK at best in limited time as a rookie.
Thanks to the conditions of the [Aaron] Rodgers trade, the Jets can’t offer the Vikings a second-rounder in 2024. But the team has a pair of fourth-rounders this year. Using at least one (or even both) of those picks along with a third-rounder could tempt the Vikings enough to get a deal done.
At this stage of his career, Hunter makes more sense for a franchise like the Jets than one like the Vikings. The edge rusher will turn 29 years old in late October and has a recent injury history of some significance. He missed the entirety of the 2020 campaign due to a neck surgery and sat out another 10 contests in 2021 after suffering a torn pectoral.
Hunter was a Pro-Bowl selection in 2018, 2019 and last season, showing that he can still put consistent pressure on opposing quarterbacks and proving that he can stay healthy as he approaches the vaunted age of 30 — often regarded as a veteran benchmark in the NFL for almost every position save for quarterback.
In 2022, Hunter amassed 10.5 sacks and 34 QB pressures, per Pro Football Reference. Kicking that kind of production out the door is a risky move for Minnesota after saying goodbye to 10 sacks from Za’Darius Smith via a trade with the Cleveland Browns in May.
But a draft haul like the one Davenport proposed probably makes that risk worth it to a franchise that doesn’t need to win big in 2023, or even in 2024, for the general manager and head coach to keep their jobs. Adofo-Mensah has focused on making his roster younger and less expensive since he took the helm, so it is only logical that the Vikings will continue on that path in a mediocre NFC North Division.
Vikings Can Inflate Trade Return for Danielle Hunter With Team Like Jets
GettyWide receiver Justin Jefferson of the Minnesota Vikings warms up before a game against the New York Giants in December 2022.
If Minnesota is patient and plays competition for Hunter against itself, the Vikings can probably up the draft package Davenport proposed. The Jets are clearly all-in over the next couple of years after dealing for Rodgers this offseason, but they remain shy of sure-fire bets at left tackle and off the edge of the defense. Minnesota, meanwhile, is in the midst of what the franchise is billing as a competitive rebuild.
While the Jets are playing the short-game, the Vikings are clearly restructuring for the long-haul. If the team is so inclined, it might be able to pry a second-round pick out of New York in 2025 in exchange for Hunter to go along with a third-rounder and fourth-rounder in 2024, or a pair of fourth-round selections that draft.
Moving Hunter via a trade now will clear only $5.5. million off the Vikings’ salary cap in 2023, but it will also keep an eight-figure salary off of the books for several years into the future. That will help the Vikings sign wide receiver Justin Jefferson and tight end T.J. Hockenson to long-term deals, both of which are expected to be lucrative. It will also aid the team in 2024 as it searches for a franchise quarterback, with those savings amplified by the likely departure of Kirk Cousins.
