6 Potential cap casualties Eagles can target at edge rusher

If the Eagles can land the 2019 version of Danielle Hunter, they’re in business.

You should be noticing a pattern here that’s obvious. In navigating the landscape of potential cap casualties, teams are going to, more often than not, find themselves weighing four areas: guys who are injured, how much money they’re accustomed to making, their willingness to accept the fact that they probably need to take pay cuts, and the likelihood that they’ll be injured again and miss more time.

Welcome to the crapshoots more commonly known as roster building and free agency.

The good news about landing someone like Danielle Hunter is this. We’re talking about a guy teams have to gameplan against, a guy that’s found his way onto two Pro Bowl rosters (2018 and 2019) and boasts more than 60 sacks in his six-year career.

The bad news that comes with taking a flier on Hunter is this. 2019 was the last time he played a full season. He landed on the Minnesota Vikings’ IR on September 9th of 2020 before going under the knife to clean up a herniated disc in his neck. He returned in Week 1 of the most recent season and appeared in seven games before missing weeks 9 through 18 after tearing a pectoral muscle.

There’s a possibility that he won’t be with the Vikes in 2022, but despite the fact that he’s only 27 and turns 28 in October, the term ‘injury-prone is being thrown around.

Is this someone worth taking a chance on? Put an asterisk by his name. This is a topic we might wind up revisiting later.