Today Could be Exclamation Point on Vikings 2021 Offseason
Dustin Baker
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First, it was Stephen Weatherly.
He returned to the Minnesota Vikings in March after a one-year stint with the Carolina Panthers. The first free-agent acquisition of the offseason, it was neat to see an ex-Viking return as many onlookers of the Vikings perceive head coach Mike Zimmer as difficult to work with.
Weatherly disagreed. So did Mackensie Alexander, who also rejoined the team after spending a season with the Cincinnati Bengals. The narrative about Zimmer fostering a “toxic culture” might just be false or overblown.
Today, Everson Griffen will reportedly work out with his former team in Eagan.
Tag-teaming a mini-scoop with @ChrisLongKSTP: Free agent DE Everson Griffen (@EversonGriffen) will tryout for the #Vikings tomorrow.
— Darren Wolfson (@DWolfsonKSTP) August 18, 2021
And welcoming Griffen back to the 2021 Vikings would be the exclamation point on a defense-first offseason agenda.
When the Detroit Lions season finished in 2020 (Griffen’s previous employer), the 33-year-old promptly commenced a social media flirtation with returning to Minnesota in 2021. But that was marred by antics. Griffen has a documented history of whimsical, offensive tweets. Foremost, it seemed that he welcomed a Vikings reunion. Soon after, he tweeted-then-deleted that current Minnesota quarterback Kirk Cousins was “ass.” Not a good look. That anti-Cousins tweet is the thing that holds some Vikings fans back from embracing a Griffen reunion. Nobody wants schisms.
Drafted by the Vikings in 2010, Griffen remained with the franchise for a decade before a 2020 departure — along with several other mainstay defensive figures on Mike Zimmer’s depth chart. He landed with the Dallas Cowboys via free agency, playing seven games in Texas. At the season’s midpoint, Dallas dealt Griffen to Detroit for a 6th-Round draft pick, briefly reacquainting him with ex-Viking, Adrian Peterson. Between both 2020 stops, Griffen tallied six sacks on 528 defensive snaps (or about 50% of a normal team’s defensive plays). That’s a respectable total for a pass rusher in his 30s.
Griffen is still a free agent.
While reuniting with Zimmer’s defense in 2021 is certainly not mandatory for a re-tooled Vikings bunch, he would effectuate familiarity — especially for Danielle Hunter.
Hunter is returning from a 2020 campaign in which he played zilch due to a neck injury. The tentative plan at right defensive end is the utilization of Stephen Weatherly and D.J. Wonnum. Otherwise, Zimmer could explore playing time for these defensive ends, all of which are currently on the Vikings roster: Patrick Jones II, Jalyn Holmes, Janarious Robinson, and Kenny Willekes. Call it a full house. Too, as of late, Wonnum seems to be emerging as the frontrunner to start Week 1 at RDE against the Cincinnati Bengals.
That could all change if Griffen is signed this week.
Amid the last 30 years for the Vikings, Griffen ranks third in sacks behind John Randle and Jared Allen. Obtaining the USC alumnus should be an affordable endeavor, and Griffen would likely have to smooth out relations based on his bizarre tweets from earlier in the year. But that’s doable – Kirk Cousins is a reasonable human being, particularly if Griffen’s statement(s) were fueled by adverse mental health.
The RDE spot is arguably the one place on the Vikings defensive depth chart that is iffy. A Griffen reunion would douse that uncertainty. He’s a pass-rushing machine, ultra-familiar with the Vikings system. Griffen probably knows Zimmer’s ways better than the vast majority of men on the roster.
Plopping Griffen at RDE would be a return to normalcy and the last chapter of an eventful offseason. At every spot on the defense, a layer of confidence would exist. If the Griffen tryout does not come to fruition, Minnesota merely hopes the Wonnum-Weatherly-Jones trio will do the trick.
Lastly, this might explain why the Vikings never seriously pursued Justin Houston or Melvin Ingram in July. It may have been Griffen as the pass-rushing contingency all along.