BREAKING: Minnesota Vikings prepare to Part Ways With Pass Rusher

Vikings Far-fetched to Expand Edge Rusher DJ Wonnum in 2024

The Minnesota Vikings will make some extreme memories expanding edge-rusher Danielle Tracker, and he isn’t the one to focus on.

Tracker gives the Vikings issues on the grounds that has been magnificent in 2023, can’t be establishment labeled next offseason and is presumably going to be too costly heading into his age-30 mission for Minnesota to legitimize another agreement.

In contrast, DJ Wonnum should be relatively affordable in free agency, but the money he could get elsewhere in the league may not be worth it.

Alec Lewis of The Athletic on Monday, December 4, created a mailbag in which he responded to an inquiry regarding the Vikings’ “craving” to welcome Wonnum back on an expansion. Lewis’ response was pretty much that a more profound plunge into the external linebacker’s numbers doesn’t look good for his re-visitation of Minneapolis.

51 protectors have hurried the passer on 300 snaps this season. Wonnum positions 43rd out of those 51 as far as tension rate, as indicated by Tru Media. His year-over-year pressure rate has additionally declined. He put the quarterback under pressure 9.9% of the time in 2022. This year, that number has dropped to 8.9 percent. Additionally, his win rate will decrease to 6.7 percent from 8.2 percent in 2022.

All in all, for what reason does it seem like he has jumped forward? It’s probably the result of splash plays. Wonnum had four sacks last year. He has six already this season.

The Vikings are well aware of their imminent gap at edge rusher and are considering an extension. Both Danielle Tracker and Wonnum are set to turn out to be free specialists. Wonnum’s dedication and work ethic are appreciated by the Vikings, but his overall output is still subpar.

Outside linebacker Danielle Hunter (left) and teammate DJ Wonnum (right) of the Minnesota Vikings may be worth more than DJ Wonnum’s contract demands.

Wonnum’s performance this season has raised his value in a traditional sense, though perhaps not in the way that analytics stat-head/general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah would like.

Wonnum, a fourth-round draft pick of the Vikings in 2020, is playing the last time of a four-year, $4 million agreement. Wonnum, who has replaced Marcus Davenport as the team’s second-starting outside linebacker alongside Hunter and has a salary cap number of less than $3 million in 2023, represents significant value.

Davenport, hampered by injury for a significant part of the year and new off the IR, has played in only four games this season subsequent to marking a one-year, $13 million agreement to join Minnesota in the spring. Wonnum has therefore started 11 of the 12 games he has played in and is on track for a career year in terms of sacks and QB hits. He is likewise on pace for the second-most quarterback tensions of his NFL residency.

Wonnum’s 2023 valuation has been set at $8.2 million by Over The Cap, which is more than eight times the annual average salary on his current contract and almost three times his cap hit this season. Subsequently, his colossal current worth.

Be that as it may, as Lewis called attention to, Wonnum’s play-in and play-out creation has really plunged since last season. That could simply be a minor regression for a 26-year-old who is probably still in his prime, or it could be a sign that Wonnum is at his peak right now and won’t be worth the money his valuation suggests he should earn on his next deal.

The Vikings’ pass rush could be completely overhauled in 2024. Hunter, Davenport, and Wonnum are the Vikings’ core pass rush this season, and they could all leave by March.

A team that blitzes at a higher rate than any other defense in the league under coordinator Brian Flores, who may also leave Minnesota in 2024 for another chance at a head coaching position, can’t manage that kind of turnover at a premium position.

However, the Vikings won’t be able to get where they want to go by paying good players as if they were great players, so bringing Wonnum back on an extension probably won’t solve much.

Even if he costs more than Wonnum, searching for a top edge rusher in free agency whose arrow is pointed more clearly upward may provide the Vikings with better value. The same is probably true for a rookie prospect in the middle of the upcoming draft, where Minnesota first found Wonnum four years ago.