EAGAN — Here’s a factoid you can share with your friends and family before the Minnesota Vikings play the New York Giants in the opening round of the playoffs on Sunday: Danielle Hunter missed 26 out of 33 games between 2020 and 2021 and still ranked second on the Vikings in total sacks during those two seasons. Only DJ Wonnum had more and he appeared in 31 games. Is there a better way to demonstrate how much Hunter was missed?
How about another one to use around the tailgating grill: From the time he was drafted in 2015 until he suffered a season-ending neck injury in 2020 training camp, there were only five players with more sacks than Hunter: Von Miller, Khalil Mack, Cameron Jordan and Chandler Jones. Even if you extend the sample to 2015-2021, Hunter is still eighth. Is there a better way to demonstrate where Hunter belongs in the edge rusher conversation in the NFL?
No matter how easy it is to portray his excellence, Hunter’s situation was lacking in clarity when Kwesi Adofo-Mensah took over the general manager job and Kevin O’Connell was hired as head coach last offseason. Teams were calling about trade possibilities and Hunter’s contract had already been kicked down the road by the previous regime as they waited to see how his neck would respond after having surgery in 2020.
Extend him? Trade him? The Vikings’ new brass did neither. They decided to pick up his $18 million roster bonus and restructure his deal, punting a potential mega extension down the road again.
They wanted to see how he responded from surgery in 2021 and to a new system that would ask Hunter to play wider outside of the tackles and stand up as a rusher more often, something he hadn’t done regularly since 2015.
During training camp, defensive coordinator Ed Donatell talked about how the transition wouldn’t be that challenging. But after a few weeks, Donatell was forced to preach patience after Hunter only had one sack and zero games with more than three pressures through the first quarter of the season.
In Week 6 something clicked. Hunter went berserk against the Miami Dolphins picking up eight QB pressures, a sack and registering a 90.7 PFF grade, his best mark since Week 15, 2019. He hasn’t stopped harassing quarterbacks since then. From Weeks six to 18, Hunter is PFF’s fourth highest graded defensive end, ranks third in QB pressures, 10th in pass rush win rate and sits inside the top 10 in run stopping grade.
“I stay keeping my head down and keep grinding,” the soft-spoken Hunter said. “There’s been ups and downs but at the end of the day you just have to keep grinding.”
All said and done, the only better season of Hunter’s career in terms of grade and QB pressures was 2019.
He’s back.
“I think it’s important that we all remember that he was coming off an injury and one that kind of limited different phases of his offseason in ways,” O’Connell said on Wednesday. “He’s a focal point of everybody we play… dealing with the different ways they’re being blocked and chipped and all the slides and things they see from a protection standpoint, he’s really honed in and showed up on a lot of plays recently where maybe it doesn’t always register as a sack…affecting the quarterback, affecting the game on the edge, it’s been really good to see.”
Few players can appreciate returning to the playoffs the way Hunter can. It will have been exactly 1,100 days between playoff games for him and the Vikings.
“It means a lot,” Hunter said. “Family members and all that stuff coming to the game, I’m really excited about that….There are players in this league who have never been to the playoffs, sometimes it’s once in a lifetime for some people.”
This was where he envisioned being in January, particularly after the Vikings signed Za’Darius Smith, who has taken over the partner role in Hunter’s game that Everson Griffen held for many years.
“When I first came here [Hunter and I] talked about it,” Smith said. “The biggest thing was ruling the North and getting into the playoffs and having home-field advantage and as you can see everything happened the way we wanted it to.”
The Smith-Hunter duo produced an eye-popping 148 QB pressures, best among pass rushing pairs in the NFL. When Smith was slowed by a knee injury, Hunter emerged to keep the Vikings’ pass rush relevant and the defense capable of making a key play in the biggest situations despite some of their coverage issues. Against the New England Patriots, his sack of Mac Jones essentially ended the game. Against the New York Jets, his pressure on Mike White forced an interception to cap off a win. In overtime against the Colts, Hunter and Smith split a sack of Matt Ryan.
“We all knew D was going to do that,” second-year rusher Patrick Jones said of Hunter’s return to power. “When you see how he approaches the game… He’s a freak athlete, he’s smart, he plays hard, he’s just a great football player.”
Hunter didn’t want to talk too much about his previous domination of the Giants (nine pressures, two sacks), but you can bet the moment won’t be lost on him when he lines up over the Giants’ right tackle for the first snap on Sunday.
“This time of year you have to play your best, it’s win or go home,” Hunter said.
He paused.
“And it’s fun.”
