March 13, 2024 • 10 mins
Tatum Everett, on-air talent and content manager for the Minnesota Vikings, joins Next Up to talk about free agent defensive end Danielle Hunter agreeing to a two-year, $49 million contract with the Houston Texans. Hunter is returning to Houston after growing up in Katy and graduating from Morton Ranch High School. Everett understands the Vikings' decision to not re-sign Hunter, even though he served as "the majority of the pass rush this past season for the Vikings' defense." The Texans sign Hunter after former Texans defensive end Jonathan Greenard agreed to a four-year, $76 million contract with the Vikings. Former Texans linebacker Blake Cashman also signed a deal with the Vikings for 3-years, $25.5 million. The Vikings "wanted to get younger" as they begin their "competitive rebuild" phase.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
And then they traded for Danil Hunter. Excuse me, they signed Daniel Hunter
after trading for Joe Mixon for moreintel on Morton Ranches. Own Katie,
Texas is where a man hails from. We go up here to what is
it called the Twin Cities? Iswhat they call it? Gordon. Miss
Tatum Everett a Vikings dot com.She's an LSU grad. If I can
(00:21):
get my mouse to work them afavorite Connor punch up, Tatum, which
if you would Tatum wire you withus, I am coome on, come
on and welcome to Houston. Youknow the gentleman sitting beside me, and
we'd like to talk about a gentlemanthat no longer plays for you. He
plays for us. Now, misterDaniel Hunter, what are we getting?
(00:43):
Yeah? Wow, I think you'regoing to go out Jamil Hunter. I
mean, if you just look athis track record, he has been having
two of the best seasons of hiscareer, heading into U and heading into
playing for you. For you guys, I mean, he's coming off of
a twelve and a half stack seasonand you know he is someone who you'll
you'll find and I'm sure Chris knowsis too. You know he's he's not
(01:07):
very talkative. He's a pretty quietguy, kind of keeps to himself.
But as I sat down with himlast year for one on one, I
was talking to him about his playand himself on the field, and he
likes to call himself a silent assassin, where he kind of just does the
job, does the work, andlets that do the talking. Damn.
(01:29):
It's so funny because you and I, you know, we were at LSU
and Danil came just a couple ofyears after us, and I remember he
was good at LSU, but itwasn't like you didn't look at him and
go, this guy's going to bea stud at the NFL level. He
had all the potential, but heonly had four and a half sacks in
his three years at LSU. Soit's just one of those guys where he
got to the league in blossom thatwe're looking at, going where the hell
was that in college? But kudosto him for taking his game to the
(01:53):
next level. But what do youmake of It's almost like it's almost like
a swap here that the Texans aredoing because John Grenard is going to the
Vikings, Daniel Hunters coming to Houston. It almost seems like they kind of
wanted to get younger there because youknow, John Garnard's a couple of years
younger. Is that kind of whatthe vibe you felt like from the Minnesota
side, Yeah, definitely. Ithink that they wanted to get younger,
(02:15):
and they wanted to be able tobalance out the sides of the rush,
right, So like they have,they're getting younger. On the other side,
they're getting guys a little of theexperience in their second contract. They're
just trying to get better because Danilwas really, you know, for lack
of better description, he was justkind of the majority of the pass rush
(02:37):
for the Vikings defense this past season. I fully believe that we'll hear them
say that in a little bit.You know, we haven't really heard from
our GM or head coach just yet, but that's what it looks like.
It looks like they're trying to pinchpennies as much as possible. Vikings are
going forward with a lot of deadmoney this season, which will free up
a lot of extra cap space inthe twenty twenty season. So I do
(03:00):
I think that they are trying toget younger. Very excited about a guy
in Grenard, and I think Denil, you know, he just he deserves
a big contract, and Houston wasable to get that for him. I
mean from a personal side of things, obviously being an lsulum and having spent
time with Daneil the last three seasons, I'm really excited for him, you
(03:20):
know, going back home and seeingwhat he can do. But to go
back to your original comment about thefact that in college he just wasn't really
a standout is quite surprising. ButI think sometimes with guys like Denil who
just have all of the athleticism andjust freakish ability, and he just had
the right body type to really excelin Mike Zimmer's defense at the time.
(03:46):
And now moving forward for you guys, you know what's interesting about Neil is
he was majority, you know,hand in the dirt, rushing the quarterback
like that kind of style. Butnow with this Brian Flores from the last
two was this last season and reallylast year kind of started too. He's
gotten more comfortable standing straight up,and so I think that's something that they
(04:08):
can really capitalize on, is thefact that he's even become a little bit
more versatile in his last two seasons, in Minnesota, the voice of Tatum
Everett on air talent content manager forthe Minnesota Vikings and Vikings dot Com dropping
by the hangout with me and Gordonfor a little bit, and we appreciative
of her time and continuing the conversationabout Danill, even though he went to
(04:29):
high school here and played college atthe bat and rouge with you guys,
still a secret for a lot offootball fans, given how productive he's been
and across the league. I thinkmany Texans fans can't tell you the last
time they actually watched Danielle Hunter getbusy. Why do you think he's been
one of the secret one of themore unsung heroes around the league, if
(04:50):
you will, for sure, Ido think a lot of it has to
do with his quiet personality, butalso he had a couple of seasons.
You know, he obviously was hewas the first player to reach fifty sacks,
like the fastest player to reach fiftysacks at his age, so it
(05:10):
was, you know, he kindof came out of the gate really strong
for Minnesota, but that he didmiss all of twenty twenty and ten games
in twenty twenty one with some upperbody injuries. Whether it was mac or
backed or pack and and I thinkbecause of that it kind of lost seam.
I think he'd be talking a lotmore about Danil Hunter had he not
suffered those injuries, because he wason this like incredible trajectory and pace after
(05:36):
getting fifty sacks and becoming the youngestplayer in the NFL to do so at
that time. So, you know, I think that's kind of why he's
flying another radar. But when yousign you know, a nice you know,
fifty million, almost fifty million dollarsdeal where forty what forty eight of
it is guaranteed, I think peoplewill start to pay more attention to him
(05:57):
for sure. All right. Lastone for me from the Texan standpoint is
joining Jonathan Grenaud in the Twin Citieslinebacker Blake Cashman, who had a career
year. He's a guy that cameto the Texan from the Jets, where
he had been nicked up a bit. How has Blake Cashman been received by
the Minnesota Viking fans Scholl Nation,Oh yeah, well, obviously he's a
(06:19):
hometown guy Eden Prairie High School,played for the Gophers. Now I'm Minnesota
Viking. You know, one thingabout the Twin Cities and Minnesota, the
state of Minnesota. They love theirown and I know that they're going to
be super excited to be able toroot for someone else from Minnesota yet again.
For a long time, you know, they had Adam Feelen, who
was an undrafted free agent and playedat the University of Minnesota man Cato and
(06:43):
then just like moved his way upto obviously a nice starting role in career
here for the Vikings. And nowthey get Blake Cashman, which is wonderful.
So I think they're going to bereally excited to get a guy who
really is coming off, as youknow, his best season yet and being
able to play in a defense likeBrian Flores, I think is something that
(07:04):
he should definitely look forward to.All the feedback we get is how much
fun these guys have playing for him, and uh, yeah, I'm excited
to see what both Blake and JohnGernard do and obviously wishing the best to
Daniel and you guys, because we'recertainly going to miss him here at least
from the team perspective. Dan wellMore, for you, it's going to
(07:26):
be a real wild, uh draft, I guess for the Viking is going
to be intrinsidency where they go abig addition. They lose Dalvin Cook a
year ago, running game kind oftook a step back. They go get
Aaron Jones from division rival Green Bay. I think that's huge. Justin Jefferson
will see what happens there. Butman, the quarterback, Kirk Cousins goes
to Atlanta Jah mc kirk. Theysigned Sam Donald, But what's the vibe?
(07:47):
Look, you can ride with SamDonald as a bridge quarterback. Oh
you can't be Okay, what's thevibe you're getting? Are they? Do
you think they're going to take aquarterback in this draft? Yeah? You
know. I think they have tostart thinking about the future. I don't
think anyone is going to sign aveteran quarterback like Sam Darnald to a one
year deal thinking he's it right,So I think that they are starting to
(08:11):
look towards the future. I thinkthe two words that we hear quite often
from the front office as well asthe coaching staff, is that this is
always going to be a competitive rebuild. They'll never tear it all down.
They want to consistently be competitive whilerebuilding the team. And I think you
kind of see that with Sam Donald. Just most recently, the Vikings hired
(08:33):
a new quarterback coach. The nameyou guys are probably familiar with, Josh
McCown, you know, product ofTexas himself. So he is now the
new Texas estate, I know,not Texas les versus You're very specific,
but he's someone who has worked withSam Donald or played alongside Sam Donald before.
(08:54):
You know, that connection might bea reason why they wanted to reach
out to him. And and KevinO'Connell is a quarterback, you know,
former quarterback himself. I think he'sexcited to see where they can take this.
Obviously, I think the comfortability withKirk Cousins was the reason he took
the job. But now you know, it's it's just not what the Vikings
(09:18):
were able to pay. They wouldnever have been able to match what the
Falcons want to give Kirk and beable to continually rebuild this team to be
at the championship standard that they expect. So I mean, I'm I'm thinking
quarterback, you know, But that'sjust my I don't know any inside information
type type of outlook, you know. I think that they definitely are going
(09:41):
to have to look towards the futurethere and obviously they're trying to build all
the right pieces around it. Kindof like feel like a missing link now
because you don't really know who willbe the starter next season. Well,
there it is. Tatum average withVikings dot Com on air talent content manager.
Later went to school. L sU gohere Baton Rouge. Yeah,
(10:01):
we done some karaoke nights together.We've been up. Don't lay that's so
long ago, but you know,I'm gonna have to ask. I do
like that. I still get towear purple and gold, and I'm much
appreciate it. Then there's that part, all right, we appreciate it.
Follow her if you would at TatumEverett's E V E R E two tas
Tatum, we got a slide.Thank you so much for your time.
(10:22):
Enjoy our guys, Grenaud and cashMan. They were really well liked around
here. But the business is thebusiness and we got the better players,
so we feel good. Come onto town to nil Haunah. Let's get
busy. We'll see you. Thankhave a good day.
And then they traded for Danil Hunter. Excuse me, they signed Daniel Hunter
after trading for Joe Mixon for moreintel on Morton Ranches. Own Katie,
Texas is where a man hails from. We go up here to what is
it called the Twin Cities? Iswhat they call it? Gordon. Miss
Tatum Everett a Vikings dot com.She's an LSU grad. If I can
(00:21):
get my mouse to work them afavorite Connor punch up, Tatum, which
if you would Tatum wire you withus, I am coome on, come
on and welcome to Houston. Youknow the gentleman sitting beside me, and
we'd like to talk about a gentlemanthat no longer plays for you. He
plays for us. Now, misterDaniel Hunter, what are we getting?
(00:43):
Yeah? Wow, I think you'regoing to go out Jamil Hunter. I
mean, if you just look athis track record, he has been having
two of the best seasons of hiscareer, heading into U and heading into
playing for you. For you guys, I mean, he's coming off of
a twelve and a half stack seasonand you know he is someone who you'll
you'll find and I'm sure Chris knowsis too. You know he's he's not
(01:07):
very talkative. He's a pretty quietguy, kind of keeps to himself.
But as I sat down with himlast year for one on one, I
was talking to him about his playand himself on the field, and he
likes to call himself a silent assassin, where he kind of just does the
job, does the work, andlets that do the talking. Damn.
(01:29):
It's so funny because you and I, you know, we were at LSU
and Danil came just a couple ofyears after us, and I remember he
was good at LSU, but itwasn't like you didn't look at him and
go, this guy's going to bea stud at the NFL level. He
had all the potential, but heonly had four and a half sacks in
his three years at LSU. Soit's just one of those guys where he
got to the league in blossom thatwe're looking at, going where the hell
was that in college? But kudosto him for taking his game to the
(01:53):
next level. But what do youmake of It's almost like it's almost like
a swap here that the Texans aredoing because John Grenard is going to the
Vikings, Daniel Hunters coming to Houston. It almost seems like they kind of
wanted to get younger there because youknow, John Garnard's a couple of years
younger. Is that kind of whatthe vibe you felt like from the Minnesota
side, Yeah, definitely. Ithink that they wanted to get younger,
(02:15):
and they wanted to be able tobalance out the sides of the rush,
right, So like they have,they're getting younger. On the other side,
they're getting guys a little of theexperience in their second contract. They're
just trying to get better because Danilwas really, you know, for lack
of better description, he was justkind of the majority of the pass rush
(02:37):
for the Vikings defense this past season. I fully believe that we'll hear them
say that in a little bit.You know, we haven't really heard from
our GM or head coach just yet, but that's what it looks like.
It looks like they're trying to pinchpennies as much as possible. Vikings are
going forward with a lot of deadmoney this season, which will free up
a lot of extra cap space inthe twenty twenty season. So I do
(03:00):
I think that they are trying toget younger. Very excited about a guy
in Grenard, and I think Denil, you know, he just he deserves
a big contract, and Houston wasable to get that for him. I
mean from a personal side of things, obviously being an lsulum and having spent
time with Daneil the last three seasons, I'm really excited for him, you
(03:20):
know, going back home and seeingwhat he can do. But to go
back to your original comment about thefact that in college he just wasn't really
a standout is quite surprising. ButI think sometimes with guys like Denil who
just have all of the athleticism andjust freakish ability, and he just had
the right body type to really excelin Mike Zimmer's defense at the time.
(03:46):
And now moving forward for you guys, you know what's interesting about Neil is
he was majority, you know,hand in the dirt, rushing the quarterback
like that kind of style. Butnow with this Brian Flores from the last
two was this last season and reallylast year kind of started too. He's
gotten more comfortable standing straight up,and so I think that's something that they
(04:08):
can really capitalize on, is thefact that he's even become a little bit
more versatile in his last two seasons, in Minnesota, the voice of Tatum
Everett on air talent content manager forthe Minnesota Vikings and Vikings dot Com dropping
by the hangout with me and Gordonfor a little bit, and we appreciative
of her time and continuing the conversationabout Danill, even though he went to
(04:29):
high school here and played college atthe bat and rouge with you guys,
still a secret for a lot offootball fans, given how productive he's been
and across the league. I thinkmany Texans fans can't tell you the last
time they actually watched Danielle Hunter getbusy. Why do you think he's been
one of the secret one of themore unsung heroes around the league, if
(04:50):
you will, for sure, Ido think a lot of it has to
do with his quiet personality, butalso he had a couple of seasons.
You know, he obviously was hewas the first player to reach fifty sacks,
like the fastest player to reach fiftysacks at his age, so it
(05:10):
was, you know, he kindof came out of the gate really strong
for Minnesota, but that he didmiss all of twenty twenty and ten games
in twenty twenty one with some upperbody injuries. Whether it was mac or
backed or pack and and I thinkbecause of that it kind of lost seam.
I think he'd be talking a lotmore about Danil Hunter had he not
suffered those injuries, because he wason this like incredible trajectory and pace after
(05:36):
getting fifty sacks and becoming the youngestplayer in the NFL to do so at
that time. So, you know, I think that's kind of why he's
flying another radar. But when yousign you know, a nice you know,
fifty million, almost fifty million dollarsdeal where forty what forty eight of
it is guaranteed, I think peoplewill start to pay more attention to him
(05:57):
for sure. All right. Lastone for me from the Texan standpoint is
joining Jonathan Grenaud in the Twin Citieslinebacker Blake Cashman, who had a career
year. He's a guy that cameto the Texan from the Jets, where
he had been nicked up a bit. How has Blake Cashman been received by
the Minnesota Viking fans Scholl Nation,Oh yeah, well, obviously he's a
(06:19):
hometown guy Eden Prairie High School,played for the Gophers. Now I'm Minnesota
Viking. You know, one thingabout the Twin Cities and Minnesota, the
state of Minnesota. They love theirown and I know that they're going to
be super excited to be able toroot for someone else from Minnesota yet again.
For a long time, you know, they had Adam Feelen, who
was an undrafted free agent and playedat the University of Minnesota man Cato and
(06:43):
then just like moved his way upto obviously a nice starting role in career
here for the Vikings. And nowthey get Blake Cashman, which is wonderful.
So I think they're going to bereally excited to get a guy who
really is coming off, as youknow, his best season yet and being
able to play in a defense likeBrian Flores, I think is something that
(07:04):
he should definitely look forward to.All the feedback we get is how much
fun these guys have playing for him, and uh, yeah, I'm excited
to see what both Blake and JohnGernard do and obviously wishing the best to
Daniel and you guys, because we'recertainly going to miss him here at least
from the team perspective. Dan wellMore, for you, it's going to
(07:26):
be a real wild, uh draft, I guess for the Viking is going
to be intrinsidency where they go abig addition. They lose Dalvin Cook a
year ago, running game kind oftook a step back. They go get
Aaron Jones from division rival Green Bay. I think that's huge. Justin Jefferson
will see what happens there. Butman, the quarterback, Kirk Cousins goes
to Atlanta Jah mc kirk. Theysigned Sam Donald, But what's the vibe?
(07:47):
Look, you can ride with SamDonald as a bridge quarterback. Oh
you can't be Okay, what's thevibe you're getting? Are they? Do
you think they're going to take aquarterback in this draft? Yeah? You
know. I think they have tostart thinking about the future. I don't
think anyone is going to sign aveteran quarterback like Sam Darnald to a one
year deal thinking he's it right,So I think that they are starting to
(08:11):
look towards the future. I thinkthe two words that we hear quite often
from the front office as well asthe coaching staff, is that this is
always going to be a competitive rebuild. They'll never tear it all down.
They want to consistently be competitive whilerebuilding the team. And I think you
kind of see that with Sam Donald. Just most recently, the Vikings hired
(08:33):
a new quarterback coach. The nameyou guys are probably familiar with, Josh
McCown, you know, product ofTexas himself. So he is now the
new Texas estate, I know,not Texas les versus You're very specific,
but he's someone who has worked withSam Donald or played alongside Sam Donald before.
(08:54):
You know, that connection might bea reason why they wanted to reach
out to him. And and KevinO'Connell is a quarterback, you know,
former quarterback himself. I think he'sexcited to see where they can take this.
Obviously, I think the comfortability withKirk Cousins was the reason he took
the job. But now you know, it's it's just not what the Vikings
(09:18):
were able to pay. They wouldnever have been able to match what the
Falcons want to give Kirk and beable to continually rebuild this team to be
at the championship standard that they expect. So I mean, I'm I'm thinking
quarterback, you know, But that'sjust my I don't know any inside information
type type of outlook, you know. I think that they definitely are going
(09:41):
to have to look towards the futurethere and obviously they're trying to build all
the right pieces around it. Kindof like feel like a missing link now
because you don't really know who willbe the starter next season. Well,
there it is. Tatum average withVikings dot Com on air talent content manager.
Later went to school. L sU gohere Baton Rouge. Yeah,
(10:01):
we done some karaoke nights together.We've been up. Don't lay that's so
long ago, but you know,I'm gonna have to ask. I do
like that. I still get towear purple and gold, and I'm much
appreciate it. Then there's that part, all right, we appreciate it.
Follow her if you would at TatumEverett's E V E R E two tas
Tatum, we got a slide.Thank you so much for your time.
(10:22):
Enjoy our guys, Grenaud and cashMan. They were really well liked around
here. But the business is thebusiness and we got the better players,
so we feel good. Come onto town to nil Haunah. Let's get
busy. We'll see you. Thankhave a good day.
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