Vikings star pass rusher Danielle Hunter has always been a man of very few words. You’re lucky to get a few sentences out of him at a time.

That’s all he needed to make his hopes abundantly clear with a big decision coming in the next couple of months.

After the Vikings officially missed the playoffs with a 30-20 loss to the Detroit Lions on Sunday afternoon at Ford Field, Hunter confronted the fact that he’s set to become a free agent for the first time in his career. If he has his way, he won’t be going anywhere.

“I’d like to be here,” Hunter said. “This is all I know. I don’t know anything else. I’ve been here my whole career.”

Can the Vikings afford him this offseason? That remains to be seen.

Looking at some of the premier pass rushers in the NFL, it’s safe to assume Hunter is going to want to be paid somewhere in the same ballpark. Though he more than likely won’t get as much as San Francisco 49ers star Nick Bosa ($34 million per season), it seems reasonable for Hunter to land in the range of Pittsburgh Steelers star T.J. Watt ($28 million), Los Angeles Chargers star Joey Bosa ($27 million), Cleveland Browns star Myles Garrett ($25 million) or Chicago Bears star Montez Sweat ($24.5 million), among a handful of others.

It’ll be up to the Vikings to decide how much they are willing to pay Hunter.

It certainly won’t be cheap coming off arguably his most productive campaign to date. After essentially betting on himself last offseason by agreeing to a one-year contract that was worth up to $20 million, Hunter dominated this season with a career high 16 1/2 sacks while serving as the straw the stirs the drink for the defense.

Not that Hunter cared too much about his individual statistics after the Vikings missed the playoffs.

“Honestly I feel kind of incomplete,” Hunter said. “I feel like there’s more that I could’ve done for my team.”

That statement might as well have doubled as a sales pitch. He clearly doesn’t feel like he has reached his peak as a player.

“I feel like there’s more in the tank,” Hunter said. “I’ve just got to find it.”

The fact that Hunter is in position to sign the most lucrative deal of his career isn’t lost on him considering his struggles psychically not too long ago. He missed all of the 2020 season with a neck injury, then most of the 2021 season with a pectoral injury, a series of unfortunate events that had him questioning if he would ever play again.

“I remember going back on the field for the first time,” Hunter said. “I was really thankful.”

Now he’s about to get paid after proving that he’s still among the best in the world at what he does.

Will he get to continue to prove that with the Vikings? That’s certainly his hope.

“This is an organization that I love,” Hunter said. “I’d definitely like to be back.”

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