The Detroit Lions are a team to watch in the sweepstakes of a Minnesota Vikings’ star player leading up to the trade deadline, according to an NFL insider.
Minnesota enters Week 6 against the Chicago Bears with a disappointing 1-4 record. The reigning NFC North champions have already matched last year’s regular season loss total, and with star wideout Justin Jefferson on the IR, the odds of a midseason turnaround feel astronomical.
According to Sports Illustrated’s Albert Breer, star pass-rusher Danielle Hunter is the main Viking to follow leading up to the deadline. Breer even added that the Vikings’ NFC North rivals, the Detroit Lions, make sense as a possible destination:
“The Vikings would be a third team on the trade-deadline radar. And while Kirk Cousins is the name talk shows can’t stop talking about, Danielle Hunter is the player you probably should pay the most attention to. He already has six sacks and, as his second contract winds down, is only 28 years old. A team acquiring him would take on the prorated portion of his $10 million base for this year, which should help to goose his value a bit.
The Lions, to me, would be a fascinating landing spot. And normally I’d say there’s no way he’d get moved in the division. But, remember, those two teams executed the Jameson Williams draft-day trade and T.J. Hockenson in-season deal with each other over the past 18 months, so nothing should be ruled out.”
The Lions comfortably lead the NFC North with a 4-1 record. Factoring in the head-to-head tiebreaker, they’re three games up on the Green Bay Packers for tops in the division.
So Detroit should definitely be a buyer at the deadline, and a sacks specialist like Hunter would certainly bolster their chances of going on a deep playoff run. Detroit already has one of the best pass-rushers in Aidan Hutchinson, who has 4.5 sacks in just five games.
Click on ‘Follow Us’ and get notified of the most viral NFL stories via Google! Follow Us
A three-time Pro Bowler, Hunter has four seasons of double-digit sacks under his belt. He posted back-to-back 14.5-sack campaigns in 2018 and 2019.
While the Vikings try to get back on the win track against Chicago, the Lions will try to win their fourth straight against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Sunday.
