Everson Griffen remains on the market as training camp approaches—could he wind up with Vikings?
In this bizarre, pandemic-ridden NFL offseason, one of the mysteries is why Everson Griffen is still available on the free agent market.
The four-time Pro Bowl defensive end voided his contract with the Vikings in February as a preemptive strike before the Vikings would have released him in March to save his $13 million salary due this season. Griffen has not yet found a team willing to step up and sign him. Could that open the door for the Vikings to bring back the 32-year old leader of the D-line on a relative bargain deal with a base salary under $5 million plus lucrative incentives?
Griffen is coming off a fine season in which he had eight sacks, 41 tackles and 24 quarterback hits. He was selected to the Pro Bowl as an injury replacement while playing for $8 million under a restructured contract. This followed Griffen’s down 2018 season in which he missed five games for mental health reasons and registered only 5.5 sacks. That 2018 season with his personal issues reportedly has prompted questions from NFL teams considering him. But his overall ten year career with the Vikings has been outstanding after joining the team as a fourth round pick in 2010 and his 74.5 career sacks rank seventh in team history.
Having missed the virtual offseason program is inconsequential for Griffen if he returns to the Vikings where he is well versed in Mike Zimmer’s defensive system. It’s a bit more of an issue if he signs elsewhere although if he joins another team before or early in training camp, he’ll have plenty of time to catch up.
Early in the offseason, the rumblings were that Seattle was interested in Griffen as they were struggling to resign their top defensive end—Jadeveon Clowney—who is probably the top free agent still available. Some observers thought Cleveland may have interest with ex-Vikings assistant Kevin Stefanski now the Browns head coach but that didn’t come to pass. In the past week, a Philadelphia radio producer tweeted that Griffen should be at the top of the Eagles’ wish list and Griffen tweeted back “Amen Brother.”
It appears the Vikings have moved on and are rightfully excited to elevate third year man Ifeadi Odenigbo to the starting spot opposite star pass rusher Danielle Hunter. Odenigbo had a breakout season in 2019 with seven sacks, 13 QB hits and 18 pressures while playing only 34% of the defensive snaps and co-defensive coordinator and D-line coach Andre Patterson is very excited about Odenigbo’s future.
Patterson also has high praise for the potential of team’s fourth round pick--defensive end D.J. Wonnum from South Carolina. Wonnum is 6-5, 258 pounds, gives great effort and was a team captain as a college sophomore, showing his leadership ability. He had 14 career sacks in college and 9.5 tackles for loss in his senior season after missing most of his junior year with an ankle injury.
To further fortify the defensive end position, Minnesota drafted Kenny Willekes in the seventh round out of Michigan State and signed free agent Anthony Zettel who has five years of NFL experience, most recently with the 49ers (he played in four games for San Francisco last season including their three playoff games and had three tackles). Jalyn Holmes, who has played defensive tackle his first two seasons, also could be moved outside where he played some of the time at Ohio State.
The Vikings have only $11.7 million in salary cap room currently which doesn’t leave them much cash for Griffen after they sign their 15 player draft class that includes two first rounders who will eat up over $4 million this season. They also will need cap room if they extend top running back Dalvin Cook as expected.
The Vikings brass know they need depth at defensive end as rushing the passer is a critical component on defense especially with the team’s inexperienced cornerbacks and considering the quarterbacks they’ll face this season including Aaron Rodgers, Russell Wilson, Drew Brees, Tom Brady, Dak Prescott and Deshaun Watson. Pass rushing also is perhaps the toughest thing to do in football in terms of energy exerted. So being able to rotate pass rushers is critical and the Vikings had that luxury last year with Griffen, Hunter, Odenigbo and Stephen Weatherly, another excellent defensive end who signed with Carolina in free agency.
After not getting their newcomers on the practice field this offseason, I suspect the Vikings want to see how Wonnum, Willekes, Zettel, Holmes and returning practice squad player Stacy Keely perform in pads early in training camp, due to open July 28. If they are unsure of the quality of depth behind Hunter and Odenigbo, I would expect a concerted effort from GM Rick Spielman, Zimmer and Patterson to try and bring Griffen back as a rotational player under an affordable deal if he is still available.
Griffen said an emotional goodbye to Vikings fans on Instagram in March but he backpedaled slightly in April when he told NFL Media’s Tom Pelissero “never say never” regarding his possible return to the Vikings. Spielman also left the door open for Griffen’s return in a pre-draft statement. Those could wind up being prophetic comments from Griffen and Spielman.
Vikings & NFL Observations:
1.Seventh round quarterback Nate Stanley from Iowa became the first Vikings draft pick to sign his contract earlier this week. Draft pick signings are slow all around the league as the virtual offseason prevents teams from giving newly signed players a physical before paying out signing bonuses. So a lot of work remains for the Vikings front office to get the other 14 draft picks signed with training camp less than two weeks away, But with the rookie salary pool and slotted system, signing draft picks is not excessively difficult.
2. The NFL and NFLPA have jointly announced what everyone expected in terms of training camps proceeding without fans in attendance this year. It’s another sad casualty of the pandemic as training camp traditionally has been the best opportunity for fans to get a close-up view of the players at practice and in autograph sessions post-practice. I witnessed thousands of Vikings fans at camps in Mankato during my front office career and then at the Vikings Eagan facility the past two years as I covered the team for WCCO Radio. Hopefully training camp will return to normal in 2021.
3. Another protocol announced in the past week stated that players are forbidden from post-game interaction with opposing players unless they are six feet apart. Good luck league office in policing that policy. And there will be no jersey exchanges allowed between players after games.
4. As the Wednesday deadline for franchise-tagged players to sign long-term deals passed, the Vikings had to be pleased to see Tennessee’s star running back Derrick Henry, who led the league in rushing last season, sign a four-year, $50 million deal with $25.5 million guaranteed which came in at the same $12.5 million per year average as Christian McCaffrey’s recent extension that has him under contract for six years in Carolina. That should help crystallize the market in Minnesota’s negotiations with Cook on his possible extension.
Meanwhile in other developments involving franchised players, Dallas did not reach agreement with QB Dak Prescott on a long term deal so he’ll play this season for the $31 million tag amount. The Chiefs signed star defensive lineman Chris Jones to a blockbuster four year, $85 million contract. And Vikings safety Anthony Harris did not sign long term so he will play this season under his $11.4 million franchise tag and then become a free agent again in 2021.