The amount of turnover the Vikings have experienced on defense over the last month didn’t come as a surprise to Pro Bowl defensive end Danielle Hunter.
Salary cap restrictions, aging players, injury histories and other circumstances forced Minnesota to part ways with more than a handful of defensive staples during free agency, including Linval Joseph, Everson Griffen, Stephen Weatherly, Xavier Rhodes, Trae Waynes, Mackensie Alexander, Jayron Kearse or Andrew Sendejo.
“It’s a business,” Hunter said Wednesday on a conference call with Twin Cities media. “It would be very unrealistic if you were able to keep a team the same way for ‘x’ amount of years, but it’s a business. Guys have got to do what’s best for them, and sometimes the team has to do what’s best for them, and it’s just a part of life. We can only deal with the situation we have now, and that’s to make progress and change.”
Hunter started alongside Joseph and Griffen for the last three seasons. Losing three players from the defensive line will undoubtedly come with its share of challenges, but also presents the 25-year-old pass rusher an opportunity to take on a bigger leadership role in 2020.
“I learned a lot from those guys (Griffen and Joseph) and I’ll definitely pass along what I’ve learned from them to the other guys in the group and the new guys that are coming in,” Hunter said. “I definitely see myself as turning into the leadership role of passing on the knowledge of what I’ve learned and teaching the younger guys that we get or the people in the future that we get the roots and the fundamentals of becoming a good defensive end or defensive lineman.”
While the energy Griffen brought on gamedays allowed him to take on a role among the defense’s most vocal leaders, Hunter’s reserved, lead-by-example style is one that his teammates have grown to appreciate.
“He’s just a guy that wants to handle his business,” Minnesota defensive lineman Ifeadi Odenigbo told ESPN in December. “He happens to be really good at his job but he doesn’t need all the attention because he sees everything as a distraction. And it’s true because a lot of times when you start becoming the man, you start believing the hype and what everyone is saying about you, then when you have a bad game everyone’s like “what’s going on?” The thing about him is he never gets too high, never gets too low. He’s just consistent.
“Someone like D, he embodies what the Vikings are looking for. It’s not flashy … It’s kind of nice, we have our own little super gem. Pretty cool down to earth, humble dude.”
Griffen, who said goodbye to Vikings fans in an Instagram post in March, has yet to sign with a new team in free agency. Though the 32-year-old told NFL Network “never say never” regarding a possible return to Minnesota, Hunter said he’s ready to fill Griffen’s void at right defensive end if needed.
“It doesn’t matter what side I play,” Hunter said. “Put me on the left, put me on the right, I’ll play it. It doesn’t matter.”
The Vikings restructured Hunter’s contract last month to convert $8 million of his $10.9 million base salary for 2020 into a signing bonus, according to a league source. The move lowered the defensive end’s cap hit to $9 million and provided Minnesota with around $6 million in cap space.
Following up on a season where he became the youngest player in NFL history to notch 50 career sacks and reach his second consecutive Pro Bowl, Hunter is setting his goals high for the 2020 season.
“Make it to the Pro Bowl. All-Pro. Get the sack record and all that,” Hunter said. “But I feel like that will all come into play if I just continue to do what I’ve been doing for the past five years and continue to level up as a player. Eventually those will fall into place but I can’t look too far down the line. I just got to focus on what is now. And that’s getting better as a player and finding ways to win games.”