Danielle Hunter just got robbed of a million dollars and the money goes back to the Texans after latest NFL news
Danielle Hunter is a stud and he's shown it all season long in his first year with the Houston Texans.He's currently third in the NFL with 12.0 sacks and his 17 tackles for loss are tied for third-most. He also has 23 quarterback hits on the year, which are ninth-most and he also three pass […]
Danielle Hunter is a stud and he's shown it all season long in his first year with the Houston Texans.
He's currently third in the NFL with 12.0 sacks and his 17 tackles for loss are tied for third-most. He also has 23 quarterback hits on the year, which are ninth-most and he also three pass break-ups and two forced fumbles on his stat sheet.
Yet, it's not enough for him to earn a Pro Bowl nod as an original selection. Instead, that went to the trio of Maxx Crosby, Trey Hendrickson, and Myles Garrett. Two of those guys definitely deserve to be in over Hunter, but the third doesn't.
That's Crosby. And as result, Hunter won't earn his $1 million contract incentive for making the Pro Bowl in Year 1 with the Texans. The incentive was considered likely to be earned, so the Texans will receive a $1 million credit toward the 2025 salary cap when the time comes.
The Las Vegas Raiders star has had a very underwhelming year when looking at the season through the lens of his standards. The tough part for Hunter to chew on, though, is Crosby's numbers have been far-less impressive than his own.
Crosby has just 7.5 sacks through 12 games on the year, which is tied for 35th out of all pass rushers. He does have 17 tackles for loss, 20 quarterback hits, and five pass breakups, and while he's missed four games, he's still recorded more snaps than Hunter at 768 to 757. So, he's still had plenty of opportunity to match Hunter's numbers.
The advanced stats rule in Hunter's favor, as well. Per Pro Football Focus, Hunter has a pass rush productivity rate of 11.0% and a win rate of 22.5% in true pass sets, compared to Crosby's marks of 10.1% and 14.8%, respectively. Hunter also edges out Crosby, just barely, in pressure rate at 16.9% to 16.7% in true pass sets. In terms of overall pressure rate no matter if it's a true pass set or not, Hunter crushes Crosby at 19.3% to 12.3%, per Next Gen Stats.
The one argument to make is Crosby is better against the run, but that's not even the case this year. He's played 40 more run defense snaps than Hunter, but Hunter still bests him in missed tackle rate at 3.3% to 14.7% and stop percentage at 8.0% to 5.6%.
No matter where you look, it's clear Hunter has been the better player in 2024 and not only is it a punch in the gut in terms of Pro Bowl recognition, it also hurts his wallet, which is something no NFL player ever wants to experience.
