Ryan Griffin reached an agreement to re-sign with the Texans, Mark Berman of Fox 26 tweets. This will be a three-year deal for the fifth-year tight end. He was scheduled to visit the Lions on Monday, Berman reports. The pact will be worth just more than $9MM, with $3.2MM guaranteed, per Berman (Twitter links).
Darren Fells‘ signing with the Lions earlier today may have played into the 27-year-old pass-catcher’s decision-making process.
“This process is absolutely wild. It’s crazy. A whole bunch of stuff happened,” Griffin said, via Berman. “The Lions signed Fells. The pieces fell into place for me to come back. The money was right.”
Griffin emerged as a key Houston pass-catcher during his fourth season, hauling in 50 passes for 442 yards and two touchdowns. Houston will again deploy the tandem of Griffin and C.J. Fiedorowicz in 2017, with the latter entering a contract year. A former sixth-round pick, Griffin nearly doubled his previous career-high figure in receiving yards last season, with Houston’s two tight ends combining for just more than 1,000 yards during Brock Osweiler‘s one-year cameo.
Prior to his increased usage in 2016, Griffin never caught more than 20 passes in an NFL campaign, so Osweiler’s penchant for feeding the Texans’ tight ends looks to have benefited one player, even if the team involved him in one of the weirdest trades in NFL history.
The Texans now have their core of 2016 pass-catchers retained for at least one more season but obviously have a question as to who will be distributing the passes in 2017.
they better hope it’s Romo.