Danielle Hunter won’t attend Vikings voluntary offseason program

[StanM]

KAM hit this one out of the park.

Hunter gets paid, but for one year only, and the Vikings can't use the franchise tag on him. That means Hunter gets paid this year and gets his shot to hit the free agent market next year ... which means he will be highly motivated to play well on a prove-it deal in 2023.

Next year is another story, but I get the sense that the Vikings will be ready to move on from Hunter at that point anyway.

I know that KAM's drafting has left many Vikings fans shaking their heads. At best, the jury is still out on almost every player he's drafted. But there's no doubt the man has a plan from a salary cap standpoint. The way you afford guys like JJ and Darrisaw is to not waste resources by carrying a ton of dead cap. KAM will have trimmed almost all the dead cap off the books by 2024.

My fear was that they'd give Hunter a long-term deal and he'd out-age his contract. That's definitely not going to happen. So in my book, this was a solid signing.

KAM can only do so such with the roster and the signings that Rick would have faced if he had stayed. The had a questionable OL, a QB that likes big multi year contracts and several star players like JJ, Hock and Hunter to sign. Maybe by year three KAM will have the luxury of a better roster after sifting through Zim’s guys and will have addressees our neglected OL. It would be nice to have most of our needs filled and have some luxury picks.

Some fans have very little patience and too high of expectations going into year two. I look for a competitive (aka competitive rebuild) team that will continue to add and subtract pieces whenever it means an improvement. I still believe that process will take three of KOC and KAM’s five years to see their stamp on it. The final two years after overhauling the roster will be their make or break years.

My question to fellow Vikings fans is what if they continue to show improvement but fail to bring home a Lombardi? I would vote to sign then to an extension but some will take the opposite approach and provide solid reasoning to support their case. There are valid points with every opinion but I find that reality takes entirely unexpected turns. The folks with strong opinions and a laundry list of stats to back them up have never won the lottery. Keep that in mind when considering the August predictions.

[J. Kapp 11]

KAM hit this one out of the park.

Hunter gets paid, but for one year only, and the Vikings can't use the franchise tag on him. That means Hunter gets paid this year and gets his shot to hit the free agent market next year ... which means he will be highly motivated to play well on a prove-it deal in 2023.

Next year is another story, but I get the sense that the Vikings will be ready to move on from Hunter at that point anyway.

I know that KAM's drafting has left many Vikings fans shaking their heads. At best, the jury is still out on almost every player he's drafted. But there's no doubt the man has a plan from a salary cap standpoint. The way you afford guys like JJ and Darrisaw is to not waste resources by carrying a ton of dead cap. KAM will have trimmed almost all the dead cap off the books by 2024.

My fear was that they'd give Hunter a long-term deal and he'd out-age his contract. That's definitely not going to happen. So in my book, this was a solid signing.

KAM can only do so such with the roster and the signings that Rick would have faced if he had stayed. The had a questionable OL, a QB that likes big multi year contracts and several star players like JJ, Hock and Hunter to sign. Maybe by year three KAM will have the luxury of a better roster after sifting through Zim’s guys and will have addressees our neglected OL. It would be nice to have most of our needs filled and have some luxury picks.

Some fans have very little patience and too high of expectations going into year two. I look for a competitive (aka competitive rebuild) team that will continue to add and subtract pieces whenever it means an improvement. I still believe that process will take three of KOC and KAM’s five years to see their stamp on it. The final two years after overhauling the roster will be their make or break years.

My question to fellow Vikings fans is what if they continue to show improvement but fail to bring home a Lombardi? I would vote to sign then to an extension but some will take the opposite approach and provide solid reasoning to support their case. There are valid points with every opinion but I find that reality takes entirely unexpected turns. The folks with strong opinions and a laundry list of stats to back them up have never won the lottery. Keep that in mind when considering the August predictions.

You always have a level-headed, measured approach to thinking about all things Vikings. I appreciate that.

I go back to my point about dead cap. When a team carries $20 million or $30 million in dead cap, and does it year after year, it consistently falls short when it comes to being in the running for free agents. Of course, you can't sign every OBJ who comes along looking for $20 million a year, but when your books are clean, it's as if you've raised your cap. We Vikings fans don't know what that's like because the team has been playing kick the can down the road for years when it comes to contracts. Rick would sign a fan favorite like Adrian Peterson for ridiculous amounts of money, then be left with a bunch of dead cap at the end of the deal. That's what I love about the Hunter signing. It's $20 million this year for a top 8 edge rusher by pressure rate, then he's off the books. If the Vikings want to entertain re-signing him next year, they can do that. If they want to let him go, they can do it without penalty.

So to tie that into your point about the 5-year deals for KAM and KOC, next year — the 3rd year of their regime — will be the first year they've had mostly clean books. The dead cap this year is ridiculous. Guys like Chazz Surratt and Kellen Mond are counting $500,000 apiece against our cap. Here are some other names on the dead cap list that will blow your mind.

• Wyatt Davis ($456,000)
• Cameron Dantzler ($225,000)
• Ihmir Smith-Marsette ($160,000)
• Jesse Davis ($750,000).

And that doesn't even count guys like Thielen ($13.5 million), Dalvin Tomlinson ($7.5 million), Dalvin Cook, Za'Darius Smith and Eric Kendricks (all north of $2 million). The total dead cap is a whopping $35 million!

Drop that number to say $5 million or $10 million in 2024, and KAM can afford to go after free agents. Suddenly he starts to look a lot smarter.

It's like a family that's lived for years under crushing credit card debt. If they can find a way to get out from under it, life changes dramatically. A friend of mine used to say, "If I didn't have so much credit card debt, I wouldn't need a credit card." That was the Vikings under Spielman, and we're still paying for it. Next year things change. Can't wait to see what the Vikings do when they actually have some cap space.

[CharVike]

KAM can only do so such with the roster and the signings that Rick would have faced if he had stayed. The had a questionable OL, a QB that likes big multi year contracts and several star players like JJ, Hock and Hunter to sign. Maybe by year three KAM will have the luxury of a better roster after sifting through Zim’s guys and will have addressees our neglected OL. It would be nice to have most of our needs filled and have some luxury picks.

Some fans have very little patience and too high of expectations going into year two. I look for a competitive (aka competitive rebuild) team that will continue to add and subtract pieces whenever it means an improvement. I still believe that process will take three of KOC and KAM’s five years to see their stamp on it. The final two years after overhauling the roster will be their make or break years.

My question to fellow Vikings fans is what if they continue to show improvement but fail to bring home a Lombardi? I would vote to sign then to an extension but some will take the opposite approach and provide solid reasoning to support their case. There are valid points with every opinion but I find that reality takes entirely unexpected turns. The folks with strong opinions and a laundry list of stats to back them up have never won the lottery. Keep that in mind when considering the August predictions.

You always have a level-headed, measured approach to thinking about all things Vikings. I appreciate that.

I go back to my point about dead cap. When a team carries $20 million or $30 million in dead cap, and does it year after year, it consistently falls short when it comes to being in the running for free agents. Of course, you can't sign every OBJ who comes along looking for $20 million a year, but when your books are clean, it's as if you've raised your cap. We Vikings fans don't know what that's like because the team has been playing kick the can down the road for years when it comes to contracts. Rick would sign a fan favorite like Adrian Peterson for ridiculous amounts of money, then be left with a bunch of dead cap at the end of the deal. That's what I love about the Hunter signing. It's $20 million this year for a top 8 edge rusher by pressure rate, then he's off the books. If the Vikings want to entertain re-signing him next year, they can do that. If they want to let him go, they can do it without penalty.

So to tie that into your point about the 5-year deals for KAM and KOC, next year — the 3rd year of their regime — will be the first year they've had mostly clean books. The dead cap this year is ridiculous. Guys like Chazz Surratt and Kellen Mond are counting $500,000 apiece against our cap. Here are some other names on the dead cap list that will blow your mind.

• Wyatt Davis ($456,000)
• Cameron Dantzler ($225,000)
• Ihmir Smith-Marsette ($160,000)
• Jesse Davis ($750,000).

And that doesn't even count guys like Thielen ($13.5 million), Dalvin Tomlinson ($7.5 million), Dalvin Cook, Za'Darius Smith and Eric Kendricks (all north of $2 million). The total dead cap is a whopping $35 million!

Drop that number to say $5 million or $10 million in 2024, and KAM can afford to go after free agents. Suddenly he starts to look a lot smarter.

It's like a family that's lived for years under crushing credit card debt. If they can find a way to get out from under it, life changes dramatically. A friend of mine used to say, "If I didn't have so much credit card debt, I wouldn't need a credit card." That was the Vikings under Spielman, and we're still paying for it. Next year things change. Can't wait to see what the Vikings do when they actually have some cap space.

Za'Darius that falls on his shoulders. Tomlinson he certainly isn't a bad player and I don't think Phillips was/is a huge upgrade. Again he caused that. We could have let Tomlinson play out his contract and not signed Phillips and we would be fine and not have the dead cap. That Phillips money could have been used for G Dalton Risner which would improve a glaring weakness on our OL. Kendricks vs Hicks. Is there a big difference? If Hicks wasn't signed Kendricks could still be here and no dead cap. Now fan favorite the Hitman is back. Looks like a Speilman deal with fan favorites. G Ingram is penciled in for the next 3 years. Don't even matter what the level of play is. Speilman did the same BS. That can be called inpatient or tired of the same old BS being repeated again. If this team isn't knocking hard on the door year 3 then we need to move on. Good GMs flip teams quickly. This guy claims he's the smartest GM which was a dumb thing to say.

[J. Kapp 11]

You always have a level-headed, measured approach to thinking about all things Vikings. I appreciate that.

I go back to my point about dead cap. When a team carries $20 million or $30 million in dead cap, and does it year after year, it consistently falls short when it comes to being in the running for free agents. Of course, you can't sign every OBJ who comes along looking for $20 million a year, but when your books are clean, it's as if you've raised your cap. We Vikings fans don't know what that's like because the team has been playing kick the can down the road for years when it comes to contracts. Rick would sign a fan favorite like Adrian Peterson for ridiculous amounts of money, then be left with a bunch of dead cap at the end of the deal. That's what I love about the Hunter signing. It's $20 million this year for a top 8 edge rusher by pressure rate, then he's off the books. If the Vikings want to entertain re-signing him next year, they can do that. If they want to let him go, they can do it without penalty.

So to tie that into your point about the 5-year deals for KAM and KOC, next year — the 3rd year of their regime — will be the first year they've had mostly clean books. The dead cap this year is ridiculous. Guys like Chazz Surratt and Kellen Mond are counting $500,000 apiece against our cap. Here are some other names on the dead cap list that will blow your mind.

• Wyatt Davis ($456,000)
• Cameron Dantzler ($225,000)
• Ihmir Smith-Marsette ($160,000)
• Jesse Davis ($750,000).

And that doesn't even count guys like Thielen ($13.5 million), Dalvin Tomlinson ($7.5 million), Dalvin Cook, Za'Darius Smith and Eric Kendricks (all north of $2 million). The total dead cap is a whopping $35 million!

Drop that number to say $5 million or $10 million in 2024, and KAM can afford to go after free agents. Suddenly he starts to look a lot smarter.

It's like a family that's lived for years under crushing credit card debt. If they can find a way to get out from under it, life changes dramatically. A friend of mine used to say, "If I didn't have so much credit card debt, I wouldn't need a credit card." That was the Vikings under Spielman, and we're still paying for it. Next year things change. Can't wait to see what the Vikings do when they actually have some cap space.

Za'Darius that falls on his shoulders. Tomlinson he certainly isn't a bad player and I don't think Phillips was/is a huge upgrade. Again he caused that. We could have let Tomlinson play out his contract and not signed Phillips and we would be fine and not have the dead cap. That Phillips money could have been used for G Dalton Risner which would improve a glaring weakness on our OL. Kendricks vs Hicks. Is there a big difference? If Hicks wasn't signed Kendricks could still be here and no dead cap. Now fan favorite the Hitman is back. Looks like a Speilman deal with fan favorites. G Ingram is penciled in for the next 3 years. Don't even matter what the level of play is. Speilman did the same BS. That can be called inpatient or tired of the same old BS being repeated again. If this team isn't knocking hard on the door year 3 then we need to move on. Good GMs flip teams quickly. This guy claims he's the smartest GM which was a dumb thing to say.

Man, you say some wild stuff sometimes, but this post takes the cake.

1. Good GMs flip teams quickly … what the hell do you call taking an 8-9 team to 13-4 in your first season?

2. He never said he was the smartest GM — you’re just making up sh!t now.

3. What does Harrison Phillips have to do with any of this? He’s on the team, a starter on a reasonable cap hit. Dalvin Tomlinson is not on the Vikings because his contract was up. It’s not KAM’s fault that Rick gave him a $12.5 million signing bonus and prorated it over 3 years.

4. All these dead cap guys, with the exception of Za’Daruis, are Rick signings. Many of them were restructures meant to keep guys around past their expiration date.

5. You can’t say “that money could have been used to sign Dalton Risner” when there is plenty of cap space to sign him as it is. And by the way, if Dalton freaking Risner is the answer at guard, why has NO ONE made him an offer? The guy is 26 years old, a starter for Denver all 4 years in the league, yet he has almost no interest. Could it be that his run blocking grade is actually worse than Ed Ingram’s pass blocking grade? Or that maybe he’s just not all that good? Or that he thinks he’s worth far more than he actually is?

6. As for Hitman, the one thing safeties have going for them is that they can still be effective well into their 30s. Smith had a good year last season, despite the fact that he was horribly misused. I’ve been over that statistically in another post, so I’m not going to do it again. He also took a pay cut. So please give it a rest.

Looks to me like you’re grasping for reasons to label KAM a bad GM.