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Carmen Vitali
NFC North Reporter
Most conversations about the Minnesota Vikings (rightly) revolve around the wonderful story of Josh Dobbs and the team’s current five-game win streak. The team may have lost its starting quarterback, but thanks to a former signal caller at head coach, a quick and decisive move to get a viable option under center before the trade deadline and various players stepping up to propel this team forward, Minnesota has legitimate postseason hopes 11 weeks into the year.
And yet…
Vikings outside linebacker Danielle Hunter is tied for the league lead in sacks alongside Myles Garrett with 11. Do you hear Hunter’s name being mentioned with Garrett? Or Maxx Crosby? Or T.J. Watt? Hunter has been regularly left off many midseason awards lists (not ours!) despite the Vikings’ surprise success and just hasn’t factored into the conversation beside other great defenders.
In case you thought Hunter just had sacks, he has contributed 48 combined tackles, three forced fumbles and two passes broken up. Those 11 sacks have amounted to the most sack yards in the league with 79. And Hunter still hasn’t hit his ceiling.
More importantly, Hunter is part of a defensive system that is the most aggressive in the NFL and it’s not close. The Vikings blitz at the highest rate of any team — 49%. That’s nearly half of all defensive plays run and is 6.7% higher than the second-ranked team, the New York Giants.
The reason I say Hunter hasn’t hit his ceiling yet is because the defense as a whole hasn’t. Minnesota’s pressure percentage ranks in the middle of the pack, recording pressure of any kind (hurries, quarterback hits, sacks) on 20.8% of their plays.
That’s indicative of the fact that the defense isn’t in its final form yet. All those extra rushers aren’t quite getting home as often as defensive coordinator Brian Flores would like. They bring pressure from all levels but Hunter is still ‘the guy’ defenses…
Source link : https://www.foxsports.com/stories/nfl/vikings-danielle-hunter-isnt-getting-the-buzz-he-deserves-as-a-real-dpoy-candidate
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Publish date : 2023-11-16 20:43:44
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