After four games, the Minnesota Vikings’ star edge Danielle Hunter has not had the start he was hoping for.
Through those four games, Hunter has one sack and eight pressures. Not great from the player who had 31 pressures and six sacks in the seven games he played in before a season-ending torn pectoral muscle against the San Francisco 49ers.
Part of those struggles equates to a shift to a 3-4 defense. Because of that, defensive coordinator Ed Donatell isn’t concerned.
LB Danielle Hunter has 1 sack and a 5.6% pressure rate (T-102/NFL). DC Ed Donatell said today of Hunter's shift to the 3-4: "Every guy that has ever made this transition, his first month looks a lot like that. … There's a getting used to this role. It's very, very normal."
— Kevin Seifert (@SeifertESPN) October 6, 2022
Donatell makes a really good point. The things that Hunter is being asked to do in this defense are quite a bit different. On standard downs, Hunter isn’t lined up with his hand in the dirt being asked to play a 5-tech role but rather lined up as a 7-tech or wide-9 playing a slightly-different role. As Donatell mentioned, it’s a real transition to playing a standup OLB role and it’s normal.
Looks like we will need to be patient with Hunter.
