The Latest on Vikings' Za'Darius Smith, Dalvin Cook, Danielle Hunter
The Vikings have three star players who are currently in somewhat of a state of limbo this offseason due to issues with their contracts. The futures of Za'Darius Smith, Dalvin Cook, and Danielle Hunter — each of whom has made at least three Pro Bowls in the last five years — are all up in the air with OTAs beginning later this month.
On Tuesday, NFL Network's Tom Pelissero gave his thoughts on all three situations during an appearance on The Pat McAfee Show. Here's a quick refresher on each player's status, followed by Pelissero's comments.
Smith signed a three-year, $42 million deal with the Vikings last year after an injury-marred final season with the Packers. He had a strong first year in Minnesota, recording ten sacks and finishing fourth in the league with 78 pressures despite fading a bit due to injury down the stretch. Now, with Smith's $14 million AAV ranking just 23rd among edge rushers, he wants a new contract. He posted a farewell to the organization on Twitter in March, which caught the Vikings off-guard. There's been no real news since then, outside of Minnesota signing another edge rusher in Marcus Davenport.
"With Za'Darius, I would think that ultimately, he ends up playing someplace else," Pelissero said. "They're also not just going to give him away in a trade. He's changed agents and he wants a new contract, and he's at in a point in his career where I certainly understand — he put up 10 sacks and you're thinking 'I should go and get one more payday,' but he also signed a three-year contract with Minnesota, so that one's going to take a while."
Cook is in limbo not because he's concerned about his contract, but because the Vikings are. He turns 28 this summer, plays a position that's been devalued by the analytics movement, and had awful advanced statistics last season. All of that makes his $14.1 million cap hit an issue. The cap-strapped Vikings re-signed Alexander Mattison to more than backup money in free agency and also drafted a running back, adding fuel to the idea that Cook has a good chance to be traded or released (likely after June 1st for cap reasons). Cook's camp believes his offseason shoulder surgery has him primed for a big bounce-back year.
"It's a situation where, is there a scenario where he's on this team this year? Yeah, there is," Pelissero said. "It's a matter of just kind of how things play out in the coming months here. What, if anything, happens with his contract? Is there someplace else that he could potentially end up? It's moving parts and has been for a couple of months."
Lastly, Hunter is set to make just $5.5 million this year after having money moved up last offseason. He's been surrounded by contract drama ever since signing a five-year, $72 million extension that immediately became a bargain for the Vikings when Hunter emerged as an elite edge rusher. He missed all of the 2020 season and the second half of 2021 due to season-ending injuries, but stayed healthy last year and put up 10.5 sacks and 70 pressures (T-7th in the NFL).
"At some point, something has to happen there, ideally a contract extension," Pelissero said. "But pass rushers are getting crazy money, Nick Bosa's going to get probably close to $30 million a year, so where does Danielle Hunter fall in? He's still a young guy, he's had some injuries, but he showed last year he can come back and even though they had him dropping into coverage at times, he can still be productive."
"At this point, there's really no urgency," Pelissero said about the overall situation with these three players. "You've carried their cap numbers this far, it's May, you don't have a lot of big expenditures here. So all options are on the table in those situations."
Right now, offseason workouts are voluntary. Unsurprisingly, none of the three have shown up. Where things will get interesting is if any of the situations are still unresolved when mandatory minicamp comes around in mid-June.
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