Danielle Hunter, Armed With New Contract, Returns to Vikings Practice

Hunter told reporters after practice that he wants to be a Viking forever.

One day after Danielle Hunter and the Vikings agreed to a reworked one-year deal to keep him in Minnesota this season, the star edge rusher made his return to practice on Monday. Afterwards, Hunter said he was glad to have gotten over this hump so he could be out there with his teammates again and focus on football.

"I'm here now," Hunter said. "I gotta learn the playbook and then get out there and help my teammates."

Sunday's news that Hunter's camp agreed to a one-year, $17 million contract (with another $3 million in sack-based incentives) was the resolution to a situation that had gone on for multiple months. The three-time Pro Bowler skipped all of OTAs and minicamp earlier this year, then reported to training camp but didn't practice at all during the first week.

Although things never seemed to get contentious, it did appear that the Vikings trading Hunter was a very real possibility. The two sides couldn't agree on a long-term deal, eventually finding common ground on a one-year fix. Hunter said he doesn't have any ill will towards the Vikings for how things played out.

"I love this organization," he said. "I've always been an advocate for these dudes. I'm just happy to be back."

Although Hunter returned to practice and participated in warmups and individual drills, he was held out of the full-team periods on the first day with players wearing pads. The Vikings are going to gradually ease him back to full speed by ramping up his reps over the next two weeks.

"I just gotta take it easy," Hunter said. "My team needs me. They don't want me to rush back out there and have something bad happen. Tyler (Williams and the medical staff), they came up with a two-week program to get me back to where I need to be. Just going to follow their lead."

One reason why the Vikings may have been skeptical to meet Hunter's camp at their asking price on a multi-year contract is that he's not long removed from missing all of the 2020 season with a neck injury and over half of 2021 with a pectoral tear. Hunter said this was his first offseason in three years without having some sort of injury to rehab, which allowed him to focus on his training. He was down in Arizona working out twice a day for a month this summer.

Now that he's back, he'll be acclimated physically while diving into the playbook to make up for lost time. Hunter said he's a fan of what he's learned about new coordinator Brian Flores' defensive scheme.

"I like what I've seen so far," he said. "It's a good combination of everything. I'll go out there and I'll do whatever Flo tells me to do."

It's hard to overstate how important securing Hunter this year is for the Vikings' defense. He's the best player on the roster on that side of the ball, a dominant edge rusher still in the prime of his career at 28 years old. As a 4-3 defensive end under Mike Zimmer, Hunter became the youngest player in NFL history to reach 50 career sacks. Last year, he bounced back from consecutive season-ending injuries, switched to outside linebacker in Ed Donatell's defense, and still finished top-ten in the league in quarterback pressures.

After trading Za'Darius Smith earlier this offseason, moving Hunter would've further depleted the Vikings' pass rush. Now, with Hunter and Marcus Davenport playing outside linebacker, it's not too hard to imagine the Vikings putting up big pressure and sack totals in 2023 as that duo works in tandem with Flores' blitz-heavy approach.

Hunter's future beyond this year is uncertain; he's set to hit free agency next spring at age 29. If he has a big season, he should be in line for a nice payday. If things work out, maybe the franchise that drafted him in the third round back in 2015 will be the one giving him that next contract.

"I want to be a Viking forever," Hunter said.

That'll be a bridge to cross next year. What matters most is that he's a Viking right now.

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