{"id":795211,"date":"2026-03-06T03:45:20","date_gmt":"2026-03-06T03:45:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/795211\/"},"modified":"2026-03-06T03:45:20","modified_gmt":"2026-03-06T03:45:20","slug":"texans-signing-danielle-hunter-to-40-1-million-contract-extension","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/795211\/","title":{"rendered":"Texans signing Danielle Hunter to $40.1 million contract extension"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Pro Bowl defensive end Danielle Hunter will be back in Houston for another year.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The Texans and Hunter agreed to terms on a one-year, $40.1 million extension that includes a $30.7 million signing bonus, <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/TomPelissero\/status\/2029744446766518441\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">NFL Network reported Thursday night<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>The deal keeps Hunter with the Texans through 2027.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><img style=\"aspect-ratio:1.49926794;display:block\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-modal-image=\"38691528\" width=\"885\" height=\"590\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/AP_Texans_Chargers_Football_30255-5868f-0.jpg\" alt=\"Houston Texans defensive end Danielle Hunter (55) celebrates after sacking Los Angeles Chargers quarterback Justin Herbert during the first half of an NFL football game Saturday, Dec. 27, 2025, in Inglewood, Calif. \" class=\"wp-image-38691528\"  \/>Defensive end Danielle Hunter (55) celebrates after sacking Justin Herbert during the first half of the Texans\u2019 win over the Chargers on Dec.. 27, 2025, in Inglewood, Calif. AP<\/p>\n<p>Hunter, 31, made the jump to Houston in 2024 after spending the first eight seasons of his NFL career with the Vikings.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>He signed a two-year, $49 million deal as a free agent and then he signed a one-year, $35.6 million extension during the offseason in 2025.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Hunter, who has been a Pro Bowler five times in his career, is coming off a season where he had 54 tackles, 15 sacks, 15 tackles for loss and 22 quarterback hits as Houston\u2019s defense allowed the fewest yards per game (277.2) and ranked second in points yielded (17.4) in the NFL.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>He started all 17 games for the Texans, while also recording three forced fumbles and three passes defended.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Rod Wright, the Texans\u2019 defensive line coach, praised Hunter\u2019s play in an<a href=\"https:\/\/www.click2houston.com\/sports\/2026\/03\/06\/source-texans-signing-all-pro-defensive-end-danielle-hunter-to-one-year-401-million-extension\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\"> interview with KPRC2<\/a> last season.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><img style=\"aspect-ratio:1.49926794;display:block\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-modal-image=\"38691527\" width=\"885\" height=\"590\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/AP_APTOPIX_Texans_Patriots_Football_06635-f8f73-0.jpg\" alt=\"Houston Texans defensive end Danielle Hunter (55) sacks and forces New England Patriots quarterback Drake Maye (10) to fumble, which the Patriots recovered, during the first half of an NFL divisional playoff football game, Sunday, Jan. 18, 2026, in Foxborough, Mass.\" class=\"wp-image-38691527\"  \/>Danielle Hunter (55) sacks and forces Drake Maye to fumble, which the Patriots recovered, during the first half of the Texans\u2019 AFC divisional round loss on Jan. 18, 2026, in Foxborough, Mass. AP<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe\u2019s also physical and relentless, but a little bit more methodical, a little bit more unorthodox,\u201d Wright said. \u201cHard to guess what he\u2019s going to do from play to play when it comes to rushing. Both are very disciplined when it comes to the run game. And both guys obviously present a challenge to any opposing lineman they\u2019re going against.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWith D-Hunt, he\u2019s been there, done that. Seen it all, doesn\u2019t overreact to anything. Very calm demeanor, kind of the Yin and Yang type of deal. Both have a presence about them, but it\u2019s very different. Don\u2019t sleep on Danielle\u2019s personality. Really funny guy, likes to have fun as well. Got to behind closed doors, though. If you don\u2019t really know him, he\u2019s kind of a more reserved type of guy.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Hunter has 114.5 sacks and 562 tackles in his 10-year career.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Pro Bowl defensive end Danielle Hunter will be back in Houston for another year.\u00a0 The Texans and Hunter&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":795212,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2056],"tags":[6047,7,221,253,2368,6,89225,2592,9,222],"class_list":{"0":"post-795211","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-houston-texans","8":"tag-danielle-hunter","9":"tag-football","10":"tag-houston","11":"tag-houston-texans","12":"tag-houstontexans","13":"tag-nfl","14":"tag-nfl-free-agency-2026","15":"tag-nfl-free-agency","16":"tag-sports","17":"tag-texans"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116180178868736610","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/795211","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=795211"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/795211\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/795212"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=795211"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=795211"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=795211"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}