Vikings Fans on Everson Griffen Watch

  |  
Aug 19, 2021
Everson Griffen
Cary Edmondson-USA TODAY Sports

The Minnesota Vikings hosted Everson Griffen yesterday in Eagan, exploring a renewal of the relationship with the pass rusher.

Griffen played in Minnesota for ten seasons prior to landing with the Dallas Cowboys and Detroit Lions in 2020. With 74.5 sacks in a Vikings uniform, Griffen ranks seventh all-time on Minnesota’s sack leaderboard.

Now, there is mystery about his future with the team. Will he sign on the dotted line or won’t he?

 

The meeting reportedly transpired on Wednesday morning. Some 24 hours later, Griffen is not a member of the Vikings. That heightens suspense.

If Griffen can channel his 2019 tendencies (his final year in Minnesota), head coach Mike Zimmer will welcome the USC alumnus back with open arms. The only challenge – if anybody inside the organization actually cares – is that Griffen tweeted insulting things bout the Vikings earlier in 2021. He denigrated the quarterback and questioned whether Zimmer ever really wanted the quarterback (Kirk Cousins) on his team to begin with. This is less than ideal for the sake of a reunion.

In any event, the Vikings head into 2021 with a hodgepodge of possibilities at right defensive end – Stephen Weatherly, D.J. Wonnum, and Patrick Jones II. A productive Griffen, in theory, is a better football player [for now] than those men.

For pro-Griffen fans, it would’ve been optimal for Vikings brass to sign the deal yesterday and put the man to work. That did not occur, but it should not dampen enthusiasm on the deal.

 

Some patience is needed on this one, evidently.

And Minnesota has the cap space – that’s weird to announce at this time of year – to add more free agents. Roughly $13.5 million is available to Spielman, a marvel of budgeting because the pandemic shrunk the salary cap for all teams tremendously this offseason. Somehow – the Vikings managed to acquire oodles of free agents while keeping that $13.5 million intact for, what feels like, an entire summer.

Griffen won’t be too expensive, likely falling in the $2 to $4 million range for a one-year deal. General Manager Rick Spielman handed out one-year deals galore amid the last six months.

Per Sean Borman of VikingsTerritory, this is how the pass rush might look in 2021 if Spielman finishes the deal with Griffen:

Too, the sheer volume of new faces is encouraging. Per Pro Football Focus, the Vikings were the NFL’s worst pass-rushing team in the league last year – absolutely last. Adding new faces and ones who return from injury is the recipe to flip this bad PFF standing on its head – in a good way.

 

Rain or shine on Griffen’s return, the news should hit by the start of the weekend.

The Vikings “missed out” on a litany of pass rushers during 2021 free agency. For a couple of months, Justin Houston and Melvin Ingram were available at a reasonable price. But those men chose the AFC North for employment. Houston joined the Baltimore Ravens whereas Ingram is a Pittsburgh Steeler.

Those are recent examples. Dozens of pass rushers hit the market in March while the Vikings inked Weatherly — and nothing else for the edges of its defensive line.

Maybe Griffen was the plan along.