NFL rookie Danielle Hunter is emerging into a key piece for the Minnesota Vikings defense.
He wasn't supposed to be this productive this quickly. The 21-year-old, Jamaican-born prospect played at LSU in college, where he struggled to get to the quarterback. He had just 4.5 total sacks in three seasons of college football. He was deemed a project during the draft—someone with impressive athleticism but without technical ability.
Despite having so few sacks in college, Hunter has 2.5 sacks over the past two weeks and five sacks on the season so far. He has also caused one forced fumble while playing just 317 snaps, the sixth most of the Vikings defensive linemen. According to Pro Football Focus, he was seen rushing the passer in only 198 of those snaps.
Athletes on the defensive line typically receive more attention than those at other positions. As such, Hunter's lack of production was concerning but not stock destroying in the draft.
Unfortunately for him, the 2015 NFL draft class offered a lot of quality options for teams looking for edge defenders—options who had more production in college with impressive athleticism of their own.
Dante Fowler Jr. went in the top three. Leonard Williams and Vic Beasley followed in the top 10. Bud Dupree and Shane Ray also went in the first round, while Preston Smith, Nate Orchard, Markus Golden, Randy Gregory and Frank Clark went in the second round.
Hunter fell as far as the third round. Even in the third round, there were three more edge-defenders who were taken ahead of him. That meant that Hunter was the 14th player at his position to be selected when the Minnesota Vikings drafted him 88th overall.
Even though he fell that far, it was still somewhat surprising that Hunter went in the third round. It was even more surprising that he went to the Vikings.
The Vikings were expected to have a lot of depth on their defensive line before adding Hunter. Scott Crichton was supposed to emerge during his second season—while Everson Griffen and Brian Robison were already in position to act as starters.
Vikings head coach Mike Zimmer obviously saw something in Hunter.
Zimmer is considered one of the best defensive coaches in the NFL. He also has a track record of getting the most out of technically limited but athletically impressive defensive linemen. When the Vikings selected Hunter, he immediately became a more intriguing prospect because of where he was landing.
Lance Zierlein of NFL.com summarized it best long before Hunter became a Vikings player:
Hunter isn't as heavy as Jason Pierre-Paul, but he has similar length, explosiveness and potential. The concern with Hunter is that his pass-rush instincts are marginal and he hasn't learned to use his physical advantages to rush the quarterback more consistently. Hunter's floor is high thanks to his overwhelming physical traits and motor, but his ceiling will only go as high as the level of coaching he is able to incorporate.
Jason Pierre-Paul's name evokes more humorous responses than serious ones at this point, but that is because of an off-field incident rather than his on-field play. Injuries have hampered Pierre-Paul over recent years, so it's easy to forget just how good of a player he became after being drafted as a raw prospect.
It's still unlikely that Hunter can match Pierre-Paul's development and become one of the very best defensive ends in the NFL, but the early signs suggest that he can become a high-quality starter. He's not setting the world alight, but it's clear that Zimmer's influence is pushing him in the right direction.
Against the Chicago Bears this past Sunday, Hunter got to the quarterback twice for 1.5 sacks. Both plays came when he ran a stunt and was quick to shed a blocker in space before closing on the quarterback. His more impressive sack came a week previous against the Arizona Cardinals.
Hunter lined up on the left side of the defense, wide of the tight end and right tackle to that side.
The tight end across from Hunter releases into his route without acknowledging Hunter. Hunter seizes that opportunity to explode off the line of scrimmage and advance downfield. At the combine, Hunter recorded the fastest 10-yard split of any player at his position.
From the beginning of this play, the defensive end has an advantage over right tackle Bobby Massie.
Hunter is past Massie so quickly that the tackle abandons his drop and turns to face Hunter as he turns the corner toward the quarterback. Massie attempts to punch Hunter to the ground, but the defensive end drops his inside shoulder to get beneath the blow.
Hunter is 6'5" and weighs 252 pounds. He is a big target for offensive tackles to hit, so it's very important that he is able to make subtle adjustments, such as this one, when looking to penetrate the pocket. It ultimately made the difference in allowing Hunter to close on Carson Palmer in the pocket to get the sack.
This is the kind of play that Zimmer will expect Hunter to make early on in his career.
Because of the level of athleticism that Hunter possesses, he doesn't need to be a well-rounded pass-rusher to be effective. Jason Pierre-Paul proved to be a very impactful player early in his career by simply understanding how to get the most out of his athleticism.
Zimmer will work with Hunter to develop his overall skill set, so he can eventually become an every-down player.
In previous seasons as defensive coordinator for the Cincinnati Bengals, Zimmer watched over the development of defensive linemen, such as Michael Johnson, Geno Atkins and Carlos Dunlap. He understands how to coach talented athletes to the point that they can be impactful players.
The Vikings have set about giving him talented athletes on the defensive side of the ball over the past two offseasons. Zimmer will now focus on developing them into quality starters while their investments are mostly spent on the offensive side of the ball.
With every game he plays, Hunter is emerging as one of the key pieces of that defensive foundation.
Unless otherwise stated, all stats used in this article are from NFL.com and Pro-Football-Reference.com.