PurplePTSD: We May Now Know Danielle Hunter's Trade Value

Press release from the PurplePTSD:

Josh Frey

2022-03-10

There are rumors flying around around the Minnesota Vikings organization right now as fans become a little restless from a lack of moves in Kwesi Adofo-Mensah’s young tenure as the GM. The latest report earlier in the week suggested that the Vikings are open to moving on from a number of veteran players. Presumably, one name on that list would likely be pass rusher Danielle Hunter, who has played a grand total of seven games since the start of the 2020 season. How much could the Vikings get for their injury-plagued star, though? Well, we may have just found out.

Throughout the week, the NFL outside of Minnesota has been set ablaze with trades involving big names. Most recently, Thursday afternoon’s latest trade involved the NFC North-rival Chicago Bears and their star pass-rusher, Khalil Mack. Chicago sent him the six-time Pro Bowler to the LA Chargers in exchange for a 2022 second round pick (No. 48 overall) and a 2023 sixth round pick. The Chargers are also taking on all of Mack’s three-year/$63.9 million contract, per Ian Rapoport.

This is very important, especially when putting context around the potential return for a Hunter trade in the future. Hunter is due to carry a $26.2 million cap hit in 2022, but just a $8.6 million hit in 2023, per Spotrac. Essentially, whatever team that would be taking on the two-time Pro Bowler would initially commit just $34.2 million to Hunter, around half of Mack’s money.

Granted, Mack has been a little more reliable as a player over the years, but we began to see chinks in the armor in 2021. Mack played just seven games (equal to Hunter, funny enough) due to a season-ending foot injury. He’s also older (31 years old) than Hunter (28 years old) making that a concern, especially towards the end of his contract.

Overall, it seems the risk-reward of Hunter and Mack is extremely similar. When healthy, both are All-Pro level pass rushers that can pile up sack numbers. If the Bears were able to get a second-round pick for Mack, the Vikings could likely get a very similar return for Hunter. The question remains though, is a rebuild the direction that the new regime actually wants to go in?

This press release was produced by the PurplePTSD. The views expressed here are the author’s own.