According to Ian Rapoport, Vikings DE Danielle Hunter is undergoing surgery on his herniated disc which will knock him out for the rest of the 2020 season.
Hunter is already on injured reserve, so this just eliminates any hope Minnesota may have had of their top pass rusher returning this year.
Rapoport adds the Vikings will face a decision on whether to give Hunter a raise this offseason or trade him and it’s possible Hunter isn’t back with the team. He has three years left on his deal.
Hunter picked up the injury during training camp and the Vikings have consistently downplayed it since then. ESPN’s Courtney Cronin reported Minnesota expected Hunter to be out 6-8 weeks with this issue when they made the decision to place him on injured reserve.
However, Hunter received multiple medical opinions advising him to sit out and have this issue corrected, and it appears that’s the route he’s elected to take.
Hunter, 25, is a former third-round pick of the Vikings back in 2015. He was entering the final year of his four-year, $2.969 million rookie contract when Minnesota re-signed him to a five-year, $72 million extension that includes $40 million guaranteed to go along with a $15 million signing bonus.
Hunter is entering the second year of his deal and was set to earn base salaries of $10,900,000 next season and $11,400,000 for the following three years.
In 2019, Hunter appeared in all 16 games and recorded 70 total tackles, 15 tackles for loss, 14.5 sacks, three forced fumbles and one fumble recovery.
We’ll have more on Hunter as the news is available.
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