Vikings Danielle Hunter earns $1 million bonus in bizarre fashion

Minnesota Vikings pass rusher Danielle Hunter earned a $1 million bonus due to a contract incentive, and it wasn’t the traditional way.

Hunter eclipsed 14 sacks on the year with one in the third quarter against the Cincinnati Bengals on Saturday. But, he didn’t sack Bengals quarterback Jake Browning.

No, he did something a little different to earn that money-making sack.

“Danielle Hunter just hit his third and final $1 million incentive in his contract for the year, for eclipsing 14 sacks for the year,” Ben Goessling of the Minnesota Star Tribune wrote on Twitter. “He was credited with a sack on tight end Tanner Hudson, who was trying to throw off an end around.”

Coming into the day, Hunter had 62 total tackles and 13.5 sacks, his fifth season with double digit sacks since 2015, his rookie year.

Hunter returned to the Vikings (7-6) this summer when he signed a one-year, $20 million deal.

That deal came one day after Jeremy Fowler of ESPN reported the Vikings were evaluating trade options for Hunter due to his “unhappiness with his contract.” Hunter, 29, did not want to play on his $4.9 million base salary this season, and thus missed OTAs and mandatory minicamp, and while present for the start of training camp, did not practice.

Vikings general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah, meanwhile, gave his take on whether he thought Hunter would be part of the team this season.

“It’s great to see a great player like that,” he said after Hunter reported for training camp this summer. “Great Viking — really excited. So I just want to make sure I say that, and that’s where I’m at right now.”

The Vikings drafted Hunter out of LSU in the third round (No. 88) of the 2015 NFL Draft. While with the Tigers, Hunter had 142 total tackles, 4.5 sacks, 21 tackles for loss, eight pass deflections, two forced fumbles, one fumble recovery and one touchdown.

As a member of the Class of 2012, Hunter was a four-star recruit out of Katy (Texas) High, according to the On3 Industry Ranking, a weighted average that utilizes all four major recruiting media companies. He was the No. 40 overall prospect in the state, the No. 23 EDGE prospect in the class and the No. 273 overall prospect in the class.