HOUSTON – The Texans hammered out a one-year, $40.1 million contract extension for five-time Pro Bowl defensive end Danielle Hunter that includes a $30.7 million signing bonus, per a league source.
Hunter has a $30.2 million base salary in 2027 fully guaranteed for skill, injury and salary cap and annual $500,000 per game active roster bonus totals.
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Hunter previously signed a two-year, $55.1 million extension through the 2026 season with $54.1 million of that fully guaranteed. Now, the Morton Ranch graduate is under contract through the 2027 season.
The deal was negotiated by veteran agent Zeke Sandhu of Klutch Sports.
Hunter looks like he’s built out of granite. His chiseled muscles pop out of his uniform. His biceps are softball-sized. The Morton Ranch graduate excelled at track and field before signing a scholarship to LSU. He finished third in the NFL despite recording 15 sacks to rank third in the NFL at the measuring stick statistical category for defensive ends. He tends to be quiet and understated most of the time.
Hunter chooses his words carefully and is the opposite of a self-promoter. He doesn’t talk himself up at all and consistently deflects praise to his teammates and coaches and discusses team goals and accomplishments. He’s a Quiet Storm type. They call him Cyborg.
The Texans signed him to a one-year, $35.6 million contract extension in the offseason and a total of $54.1 million total guaranteed combined this season and next season for a $55.1 million total payout in 2025 and 2026 previously.
Hunter, acquired in free agency before last season after starting his career with the Minnesota Vikings, has posted 14 or more sacks four times in his career, becoming the 13th player in NFL history to accomplish the feat.
The tandem with All-Pro defensive end Will Anderson Jr. is arguably the best in the league.
“Cyborg, man, he’s also physical and relentless, but a little bit more methodical, a little bit more unorthodox,” Texans defensive line coach Rod Wright told KPRC 2 last season. “Hard to guess what he’s 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’re going against.
“With D-Hunt, he’s been there, done that. Seen it all, doesn’t overreact to anything. Very calm demeanor, kind of the Yin and Yang type of deal. Both have a presence about them, but it’s very different. Don’t sleep on Danielle’s personality. Really funny guy, likes to have fun as well. Got to behind closed doors, though. If you don’t really know him, he’s kind of a more reserved type of guy.”
Hunter, profiled earlier this season by KPRC 2 for his passion for fashion and wardrobe of custom suits designed by the Gentleman’s Playbook, is a sharp dressed who chooses his game fits carefully with his stylist.
“He’s put together,” Wright said. “He had a leather jacket this past weekend, I told him: ‘Make sure I get one in my size.’ He doesn’t need it. He probably has about 10 of them.
Hunter, 31, has 114 1/2 sacks in the regular season.
Hunter earned AFC Defensive Player of the Week in Week Ten as he posted a career-high-tying 3.5 sacks, four tackles for loss, four quarterback hits and one forced fumble.
With a rare and incredible blend of speed, power and precision, Hunter displayed in one fluid motion why he’s one of the most dominant pass rushers in the game.
Hunter launched himself out of his three-point stance with a quick, short jab step to his left that got Detroit Lions Pro Bowl offensive tackle Penei Sewell off-balance last season as he reacted to the threat to the outside of his shoulder pads.
That was just the preview, though, and the next motion from the Texans’ star defensive end would completely discombobulate Sewell’s mind and center of gravity.
Hunter attacked the gap between the tackle and offensive guard with his right cleat, causing Sewell to shuffle his feet and hands toward his left. Once Hunter got him to commit, Sewell was absolute toast as he left him flailing at the line of scrimmage.
A twitchy spin move back to the outside, around Sewell and a smack on the back with his hand while propelling his momentum into the backfield made the veteran blocker look silly. And it created immediate, present danger for Lions quarterback Jared Goff. Hunter collapsed the pocket and crashed into Goff as he released the football on a pass that was nearly intercepted.
Checkmate. Another chess match won by Hunter, who combines athleticism with his intellect as a deep thinker who envisions success and practices his moves until they’re razor-sharp.
“I shake my head every play that I’m lining up next to this dude who looks like a mannequin and plays like he’s running track,” Texans defensive tackle Tim Settle Jr said. “You go off him and he’s going to lead you the ball. He sets it off.”
Hunter has emerged as the master of the Euro step pass rushing move and many other strategies that have befuddled opposing linemen and the quarterbacks they’re paid handsomely to protect.
Although he’s a defensive lineman who represents the prototype for an NFL pass rusher, Hunter has a smooth, loose way of getting after the quarterback. His body-fat percentage is lower than most cornerbacks and wide receivers.
What was that move?
“That’s actually a jab step,” Hunter told KPRC 2. “That’s just something I’ve been doing over the years. I’ve kind of perfected it, almost perfected it. I’m still trying to work on it. It comes with pass rushing, setting up your opponents, setting up your tackles.”
With a super humble approach to football and life, Hunter doesn’t beat his chest with pride.
At 6-foot-5, 263 pounds, the four-time Pro Bowl selection has run the 40-yard dash in 4.58 seconds with a 36 1/2 inch vertical leap, a 10-10 broad jump and has bench pressed 225 pounds 25 times. He has every physical trait an NFL team could cover in a pass rusher.
Whether it’s the Euro step, spin move, cross-chop, bull-rush, swim move or just a pure speed rush, Hunter is a dominant force whatever move he chooses to employ on any given snap. He’s at the peak of his game and physical ability.
“I feel like he’s a unique, unique athlete,” Wright said. “I don’t know if I’ve ever seen a guy like him. He’s one of a kind. There’s nothing that man can not do. If he can’t do. I remember one day, we had a deal where at the end of practice, you toss the ball to one of the guys and see if he can get it to the end zone. They tossed it to Danielle and we’re all like, ‘Oh, man, this is going to be awful.’ And he launches it like 60 yards.
“It’s just like, of course, this dude can do everything. He’s one of a kind, honestly. I love that a lot of people don’t talk about him. No disrespect to anybody that has a podcast or has that type of involvement in social media, but that does help you. If he had all of that, he’d be all over the place. But that’s not how he wants it. He doesn’t want the attention. He wants the respect and he wants to win. I love that about him. There’s a humbleness about him that speaks loudly to our group, to our team. So he’s exactly who he needs to be and who we need him to be.”
Anderson spoke with great clarity and confidence, a man who knows what he wants who’s earning a generational-wealth contract on the horizon.
While that will obviously be an expensive undertaking, it’s an investment the Texans are expected to embrace. And Anderson, a former Crimson Tide consensus All-American, is more than open to negotiating with the AFC South playoff squad.
“Most definitely, I want to be here the rest of my career honestly,” Anderson told KPRC 2. “As long as I can be here, that’s what I want, to be here.”
The Texans are building a strong track record of taking care of their homegrown talent.
The Texans negotiated a three-year, $90 million extension for All-Pro corner Derek Stingley Jr., a former third overall pick from LSU, earlier this offseason that makes him the highest paid cornerback in the NFL in terms of new money.
The Texans briefly made Jalen Pitre the highest paid nickel in the NFL with a three-year, $42 million extension.
“Those guys, they deserve it,” Anderson said. “They work really hard. They put a lot of hard work into their craft. And you see it on Sundays, and I’m excited to be part of that team building.”
Regardless of where the Texans wind up with Anderson in contract talks, he’s extremely enthused and focused about the outlook for a top-ranked defense.
"Man, the biggest thing is not deviating from the swarm mentality," Anderson said. “We have a bunch of alpha dogs.”
Heading into a Sunday AFC divisional round playoff game against the New England Patriots and MVP candidate quarterback Drake Maye, the Texans are coming off a four-sack, dozen quarterback hit against Aaron Rodgers in an AFC wild-card win over the Pittsburgh Steelers that included two defensive touchdowns by Sheldon Rankins and Calen Bullock.
“If I had to describe our pass rush to someone who haven’t seen it before, I would say it’s like four Tasmanian devils just wrecking everything that’s in front of them,” Texans coach DeMeco Ryans said. “That’s how I look at our guys. They are fast. They are physical. The way they get off the ball, the way they collapse the pocket, they’re a terror.”
The man that’s in charge of the horror show: Wright, a 41-year-old Alief Hastings graduate who earned consensus All-American honors and a national championship for the Longhorns. He played in the NFL with the Miami Dolphins and New York Jets and in the Canadian Football League with the Sasketchewan Roughridgers. A former Sam Houston State, East Carolina, UTSA and University of Miami assistant, Wright joined the Texans in 2023 as assistant defensive line coach. He was promoted last year to head defensive line coach.
“The thing about our guys is that it starts with their coach,” Ryans said. “Coach Rod Wright has done an outstanding job of helping each and every guy in that room improve their craft. They are constantly after it, whether it’s staying after practice, walking through, studying film to see what are their moves, how can they counter off of what they’ve been doing.
“Having Danielle and his experience in the room to be able to help the younger guys as well. Will is a young player, but he’s had a ton of success, and he’s gotten better from that room and the competitiveness, the pride that they have in that room of understanding that we go as a team as how they go. They are the engine to what we do as a team.”
When the Texans drafted Anderson, the NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year was acquired after general manager Nick Caserio executed a trade with the Arizona Cardinals that included a pair of first-round draft picks in exchange for the third overall spot.
Wright was there politicking a bit, hoping the Texans would land a coveted prospect in Anderson.
“Man, I was upstairs,” Wright said. “I was doing as much politicking as I can to make sure something happened, just trying to stay around to see what’s going on. When they told me that we were getting them, I was like a kid in a candy store.
“I remember me and my family went to the rodeo, and I’m around all these animals. And then it flashed on social media, on ESPN, all the apps. And I’m just walking around with the biggest smile on my face with my wife. I was super, super happy.”
Aaron Wilson is a Texans and NFL reporter for KPRC 2 and click2houston.com