Everson Griffen played for two teams last season, with the Cowboys trading him to the Lions in October. The veteran defensive end has not surfaced on the radar much this offseason, but he wants to play a 12th NFL slate and would like to do so in a familiar place.
The longtime Vikings pass rusher wants to return to the team, according to Vikes play-by-play announcer Paul Allen. The 33-year-old edge defender texted Allen he “never should have left the Vikings,” with the KFAN radio host noting Griffen “desperately” wants to rejoin the Vikings (h/t SI.com’s Will Ragatz).
Despite playing for two teams and missing two games due to contracting COVID-19, Griffen finished with six sacks last season. No Viking rusher compiled more than five. Yannick Ngakoue reached five before the Vikings traded him in October; no one still with the team tallied more than three sacks in 2020. The Vikings finished with just 23 sacks last season, which ranked 28th in the NFL. While Allen said Griffen (80.5 career sacks) has support from some with the Vikings, he does not expect the four-time Pro Bowler to be back in Minnesota this season.
Minnesota’s D-line situation looks better going into the 2021 season. Danielle Hunter is on track to return after missing all of last season due to a neck injury. The team has three veteran D-tackle starters — Michael Pierce, Dalvin Tomlinson and Sheldon Richardson — set to join Hunter. The Vikings also used third- and fourth-round picks on ends — Patrick Jones II (Pittsburgh) and Janarius Robinson (Florida State) — in April. That said, Griffen could profile as a veteran stopgap opposite Hunter. He has three double-digit sack seasons on his resume and was a Pro Bowler as recently as 2019.
The Cowboys added Griffen midway through their 2020 training camp. Griffen catching on elsewhere this year will likely involve a similar transaction, with teams’ rosters largely set. A few teams figure to upgrade at defensive end, via starter or situational pass rusher, in the near future. A glut of veteran edges remain available. Griffen joins Justin Houston (32), Melvin Ingram (32) and Olivier Vernon (30) on the market.
Sign Griffin for the cheap and trade Hunter for a solid return
Nah. Hunter is a premier pass rusher. Griffen WAS good, but never had the potential Hunter has. Unless Hunter’s back is a much bigger problem moving forward, you don’t trade your star pass rusher and replace him with an old vet when you dont have another elite pass rusher on your team. You just dont.
Griffen left a lot of money on the table with the choices he made. He is facing the harsh reality that there arent a lot of real world jobs you can make a million dollars a year or more at. The Vikings have a bunch of young players they want to develop. They would be taking snaps from them. I say lets see what they can do. Weatherly looked like a god when he was matched with Hunter. One of these four (or five if you include Richardson) can do the same.
With all of their free agent signings, the Vikings are clearly trying to win this year while still building the roster of tomorrow. But right now, the pass rush looks like the Achilles Heel of the defense:
There are questions about Hunter’s neck. Richardson is good for 20+ pressures and 4-5 sacks. Weatherly has never made more than 3 sacks in a season. Wonnum had 3 sacks as a rookie, but took 69 more defensive snaps than Griffen did last year to get each one. And if the team was so impressed with Wonnum, why did they draft Jones and Robinson? Tomlinson has never played more than 60% of defensive snaps in a season, and is still more of a nose tackle than he is a three-tech, even if they think he can get some interior pressure.
Griffen would give the Vikings another proven pass rusher. Not a great one, but a good one, who was actually more efficient getting sacks and pressure last year in a part-time role (1 sack per 88 D snaps) than he was as a full-timer in 2018 and 2019 (1 sack every 106 D snaps both years). He would fortify the pass rush and basically put a bow on the defense.
Veterans minimum gets it done then…go get him. Keep him fresh and play him sparingly to keep him healthy the whole year. He needs to understand he may just play on 3rd downs and wont be a starter……can his ego handle that?