Danielle Hunter reported on time for the start of Vikings training camp on Tuesday, though the edge rusher's ongoing search for a new contract could dictate when he steps on the practice field.
Coach Kevin O'Connell said decisions about when Hunter will practice are "going to be a day-to-day thing," adding the Vikings need time to see how he's feeling after Hunter skipped the team's offseason program and mandatory minicamp. And while General Manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah said he was happy to see Hunter at camp, he stopped short of saying the three-time Pro Bowler would be a full participant in practice without a contract.
"There's a lot of things we're trying to work through with him," Adofo-Mensah said. "You know, we haven't seen him since last season. So that amongst many other issues that we're trying to work through with his representatives. So I don't want to give you an answer and tell you yes or no, but those conversations are ongoing."
Hunter signed a five-year, $72 million contract in 2018, and his camp has voiced its displeasure with the deal since 2020, the same year Hunter missed because of a herniated disc in his neck. That injury, as well as a torn pectoral muscle in 2021, kept Hunter out for all but seven games during two seasons that might have helped his bid for a new deal. And though he posted 10 ½ sacks in his shift from defensive end to edge rusher last season, he didn't deliver the kind of performance that might have made a blockbuster deal automatic.
Hunter has a base salary of $4.9 million for 2023, and would have been fined $50,000 for each day he missed of training camp. O'Connell said he's had "great dialogue" with the 28-year-old throughout the offseason and added, "We're really trying to build a plan that allows him to feel good about coming to work as a Minnesota Viking."
But that plan might be difficult to fully execute if Hunter remains unhappy with his current contract.
"Hunter loves the Minnesota Vikings," O'Connell said. "He loves his teammates. He feels really strongly about Mike Smith as his position coach and what we're trying to do defensively with [coordinator Brian Flores]. But I'd be naive to not know that there's another part of that process."
