Vikings' move to keep Danielle Hunter stands as a low-key success

The NFL has become a push notification.

Think it's the offseason and nothing is happening? The NFL will remind you, incessantly, of the combine, draft, rookie workouts, organized workouts, presumably disorganized workouts, OTAs (organized team attention-getters), league meetings, free agency, trades, rumors, front-office shake-ups and schedule releases.

For someone who began covering the NFL when summer meant vacation for everyone, the NFL's 12-month assault on our retinas can feel exhausting.

Also, it works. The league has gained market dominance by feeding fans the fast food they crave. The NFL is a gigantic drive-through window, and if you want to order the 2,000-calorie CardioArrest burger, they'll throw on a little extra mayo, no charge.

July may be the first and only month during which nothing really happens. Nothing important, nothing unimportant, nothing invented to create clicks for NFL.com.

This unusual moment of marketing calm is a good time to review where the Minnesota Vikings stand, particularly compared to the Green Bay Packers.

While Aaron Rodgers and the Packers continue to taunt each other with words and inactions, the Vikings aced the latest test of their management team.

Rodgers' absence from the Packers may never end.

While Rodgers' beef with Green Bay has an obvious precedent, in the Brett Favre saga that ended in Minnesota, the Vikings have a mixed record when it comes to dealing with disgruntled stars and contract disputes.

They have traded Hall of Famers in their prime, like Chris Doleman and Randy Moss. They have traded star receivers, like Moss, Percy Harvin and Stefon Diggs. They have lied about disputes, and their intentions, with General Manager Rick Spielman offering disinformation when willing to offer any information.

Spielman placed a foot on that path this offseason, pretending that the Hunter dispute didn't exist. He also cut a deal that kept a superstar-caliber player in purple, a deal that made the player feel loved without damaging the team's ability to compete.

This was a triumph for the Vikings' brain trust. Spielman makes final football decisions, so he deserves primary credit. Executive vice president of football operations Rob Brzezinski handles the Vikings' salary cap and long-term financial planning, so he proved important again.

That group solved the Vikings' biggest problem smoothly without hurting their ability to compete this year or beyond.

Essentially, the Vikings converted some of the money they would have owed Hunter into signing bonuses and guaranteed money. The result, in broad strokes, is that the Vikings didn't dramatically alter what they were obligated to pay Hunter.

They didn't want to completely redo his contract with three years remaining. That sets a difficult precedent, and is exactly the reason former Vikings General Manager Jeff Diamond traded Doleman to Atlanta in 1994.

The Vikings were always going to reassess Hunter after the 2021 season, and sign him to an extension if he continued to perform like a star.

Under the terms of the new deal, the Vikings will face the same decision. They can sign Hunter to a new long-term deal early in 2022, or they can cut him and avoid paying him an $18 million bonus.

They may be one player away from reasserting themselves as a strong defensive team. That player may be Everson Griffen.

Griffen is a free agent. He managed six sacks last year, which would have led the Vikings. He's 33 but remains a physical force. He knows the system.

Yes, he criticized Kirk Cousins on social media, but if we're going to blacklist Cousins bashers, the national unemployment rate will skyrocket.