Injury Report: Vikings Place Hunter on IR
GREEN BAY, Wis. – Just as Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers was getting ready to sit down for his Zoom call with beat reporters, the Minnesota Vikings dropped a big bit of news.
Star pass rusher Danielle Hunter had been placed on the NFL’s new three-week injured reserve list. Suddenly, a giant conundrum – who would line up at right tackle to face perhaps the league’s premier left-side pass rusher in Sunday’s Week 1 rivalry showdown – had been solved.
“That’s the first I’ve heard of it,” Rodgers said, his eyes growing wide when told the news. “He’s a fantastic player, so that’s definitely a loss for their defense.”
Hunter finished second to Green Bay’s Za’Darius Smith with 88 total pressures last season, according to Pro Football Focus. Of those, a league-high 85 came when he was aligned on the left. He finished fourth in the league with 14.5 sacks last season. Over the past four seasons, he has 48.5 sacks and five forced fumbles. At age 25, he became the youngest player in NFL history to reach 50 career sacks.
Hunter didn’t practice in training camp because of an undisclosed injury but was expected to play Sunday. Instead, he suffered a “tweak” to his neck.
Obviously, a cornerback’s best friend is a pass rush. With a fresh group of cornerbacks following the release of longtime starter Xavier Rhodes and the free-agent departures of Trae Waynes and Mackensie Alexander, a strong pass rush would have provided a welcome bit of help to Mike Hughes, Holton Hill and rookies Jeff Gladney and Cameron Dantzler.
The Vikings acquired Yannick Ngakoue in a trade with Jacksonville last week. He rushed from the defense’s right side, or against the offensive left tackle, on about three-quarters of his rushes last season, according to PFF. Presumably, All-Pro left tackle David Bakhtiari would have faced Ngakoue while whoever starts at right tackle would have had to deal with Hunter.
“I always feel like in today’s league the way that people throw the ball and how important that is with how the big plays happen, is that the more times that you can have more guys that can rush the quarterback and cover, the better it is,” Vikings coach Mike Zimmer said on Wednesday of the trade.
For Green Bay, two key defenders, defensive tackle Montravius Adams and safety Raven Greene, returned to practice. They were limited participation.
Injury Report
Packers
DNP: OLB Randy Ramsey (groin), G/T Billy Turner (knee). Limited: DT Montravius Adams (toe), ILB Oren Burks (groin), S Raven Greene (quad).
Vikings
None.