MARCH 14, 1:43pm: The Vikings have officially confirmed their deal with Griffin, via a press release.
MARCH 9, 5:20pm: Griffin will sign for one year, and can earn $3.5MM (or $4MM through incentives), tweets Chris Tomasson of the St. Paul Pioneer Press.
5:03pm: The Vikings are in agreement with free agent safety Michael Griffin, according to Ian Rapoport of NFL.com (Twitter link). Griffin was released by the Titans at the beginning of February.
Minnesota has been fairly active on the free agent market today, but they’d also been proactive in retaining one of their own safeties in Andrew Sendejo, who agreed to a four-year deal earlier in the week. But even after retaining Sendejo, the Vikings showed interest in other safeties — such as George Iloka and Reggie Nelson — so it’s probably safe to say the club is more comfortable with Sendejo as a reserve.
Griffin, then, is probably being counted on to start, at the age of 31, he’s not the player he once was. He still managed to start 14 games for Tennessee last season, accruing 65 tackles, one interception, and one sack, and he won’t have to be the focal point of the Vikings’ secondary — Harrison Smith and Xavier Rhodes are the premier players in Minnesota’s defensive backfield, so Griffin can take on more of a complementary role. Griffin ranked as PFR’s No. 15 available safety.
AS noted, the Vikings have made a number of signings today, including guards Alex Boone and Mike Harris and linebackers Emmanuel Lamur and Travis Lewis.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Griffin makes sense for Minnesota as a in the box-type complement to Harrison Smith. He could provide some stability in that role after the Vikings struggled to place a consistent performer alongside Smith last season. The one-year deal will allow them to further evaluate Sendejo/other young players as potential longer-term fits.