Much ink, virtual or otherwise, has been spilled over Danielle Hunter‘s pending contract situation. He carries a $26 million cap hit in 2022 and has suffered season-ending injuries in back-to-back years. In that linked piece, Chris Schad argues for trading Danielle Hunter to generate some cap relief. It’s a natural instinct this time of year. Look at the Minnesota Vikings’ books on a cap website like OverTheCap.com, find the biggest savings, and come to grips with losing that player. Oh, Chris, ye of little creativity. Dumping Hunter off to avoid paying his $18 million roster bonus would miss out on significantly superior options.
Before going into the details, let me give you the broad strokes. The Danielle Hunter contract is a genuine extension with a failsafe worked in. The Vikings had every intention of paying Hunter out in earnest. They just installed an eject button that they can hit this offseason if Hunter’s neck didn’t hold up. That’s all you need to know. But if you’re interested in understanding how it works, keep reading. To fully understand this deal, we have to look at the context in which they drew it up.
You may recall last offseason’s Hunter drama. He rightfully wanted a bigger contract but had suffered a disc injury in his neck. After a long offseason of speculation, Hunter and the Vikings agreed to a reworked contract. That contract offered the Vikings some additional cap relief and made Hunter happy enough to avoid any sort of holdout. However, the contract itself is weird.
Hunter costs $26 million in 2022. In 2023 he is scheduled to cost just $8 million, and then there are two tacked-on void years. That discrepancy should set off some alarm bells in your head. If it doesn’t, maybe you’re a visual learner. That’s no problem. Here are Hunter’s cap hits year by year:
Not convinced? Here’s a visualization of Hunter’s 2022 cap hit as compared to both of the other years combined.
Rob Brzezinski designed the contract this way on purpose. Remember, the Vikings didn’t know if Hunter’s neck would hold up over a full season. They still don’t, though it should be noted that Hunter’s pec injury is unrelated to his neck injury. It’s just a streak of bad luck.
That big roster bonus is currently optional. So, if the Vikings were possessed with the desire, they could simply release Danielle Hunter. They could wash their hands of the whole thing and let Hunter test the free-agent market. A fresh start. But releasing Danielle Hunter would, well, suck. As Chris laid out in his original article, Hunter’s ability is undeniable. He’s an elite edge rusher who has suffered a couple of unfortunately timed injuries.
If there’s a way to get under the cap while keeping Hunter on the roster, wouldn’t we want that? Fortunately, the Vikings did not set this up to be a choice between keeping Hunter and having cap space. They can have their cake and eat it too.
Roster bonuses, like other salaries, can be converted to signing bonuses. That means prorating the money over the life of the contract. Take Hunter’s $18 million roster bonus and spread it out (including the two voided years). Instead of paying it all now, the Vikings can pay it incrementally, $4.5 million at a time, over the contract’s remaining four years.
If the Vikings do restructure Hunter’s contract as such, they’d have a deal that keeps Hunter in purple for the next two years on a fairly manageable cap hit. In 2024, he’d carry a pretty big dead cap hit while he walks into free agency, but an extension is a possibility next offseason. Call that a problem for another day. For now, pushing this button saves a similar amount to cutting or trading Hunter outright. The difference is that a restructure keeps Hunter in the building.
Cutting Hunter would set up 2023 and beyond, of course. The cap space would help rebuild the defense, but rebuilding a defense is much harder without a superstar edge rusher in the building. It’s unlikely that $13 million in savings would replace Hunter. Trading him might have better odds, assuming you can get a satisfactory return. It’s difficult to see a scenario where a foundational piece of a rebuild on a $13 million hit doesn’t help. It’s either a competitive asset or a piece around which to rebuild.
There are many moving parts in this contract, so let’s return to the simpler way of putting it from the beginning of the article. Think in options instead of numbers. The Vikings could rescind that extra chunk of money, they could properly account for that money, or they could trade it to someone else. Assuming you’d rather Hunter stays on the Vikings, a restructure is a pretty easy option.
So why would Hunter agree to this? It doesn’t matter. He already has. That’s the thing about this contract that seems to have escaped every thinkpiece and breakdown about it. Hunter agreed to this dynamic eight months ago. It is the first trigger in the new deal he and his camp agreed to. This roster bonus accounting trick wasn’t a secret when Hunter and his agent signed the new deal, and it’s not going to come as a surprise to anyone. That dynamic is all a part of the plan.
In 2018, Hunter agreed to a deal that turned pretty sour to him. After years of excellence, he deserved more money. But little has changed since Hunter agreed to this deal last offseason. He did so knowing full well he’d be placing his fate in the Vikings’ hands.
Even so, would Hunter be upset about this restructure? Will he hold out or demand a trade? There won’t be much reason to. Not only is this already baked into the negotiation, but if anything, it’s better for Hunter. If untouched, roster bonus would turn into game checks, and Hunter would have to wait to collect week-to-week. With a restructure, that bonus becomes a lump-sum payment. Hunter can choose whatever payout structure he wants and have better control over his money. Everybody wins.
If you think the only two options are to pay Hunter $26 million or lose him, you’re simply not thinking creatively enough. It is not an ultimatum. And, crucially, Hunter has already accepted this situation. Restructure or trade, Hunter’s seeing that money, and he can walk away happy. It’s just a matter of how the Vikings choose to organize their books.
