There’s another notable name to watch on the NFL trade front as the 2023 regular season draws closer.
On Saturday, ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler reported that the Minnesota Vikings’ are “open to” dealing star pass rusher Danielle Hunter, who’s reportedly disgruntled about his contract status. The three-time Pro Bowler is slated to make a bargain $4.9 million in salary for 2023.
Tyler Forness of Vikings Wire listed seven teams that could trade for Minnesota’s sack specialist. Among them? One of Minnesota’s arch-rivals and division foes in the Chicago Bears:
“The Bears have done a lot to improve and build their roster this offseason, but the edge position is still a major weak spot. Trevis Gipson is a solid player, but that’s not a number-one edge rusher for an NFL defense. Trading Hunter within the division would be a difficult ask, but Kwesi Adofo-Mensah has been willing to do so before and the Bears do have two first-round picks next year and two second-round picks in 2025, which gives them plenty of ammunition to make a big move.”
Chicago added extra draft capital following the Robert Quinn and Roquan Smith trades ahead of the 2022 trade deadline. They also scored more picks by sending the No. 1 selection to the Carolina Panthers, who selected Alabama quarterback Bryce Young.
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The Bears had the league’s worst scoring defense last year, but GM Ryan Poles addressed it by signing Tremaine Edmunds, DeMarcus Walker and T.J. Edwards in free agency. Adding a star defensive end like Hunter would certainly make this Chicago defense a lot more prolific.
Hunter missed the entire 2020 season to injury and was limited to seven games in 2021. He was healthy in 2022 and played all 17 regular season games, racking up 10.5 sacks on the year. Hunter has reached double-digit sacks four times. For his career, Hunter has 71 sacks, six pass defenses, seven forced fumbles and four fumble recoveries.
