3 growing Vikings draft needs since the start of free agency

Defensive End

What a difference a month can make. Back in February at the NFL Scouting Combine, Vikings head coach Mike Zimmer stated with confidence that he believed Everson Griffen would re-sign with the team this offseason.

Fast forward a few weeks and Griffen recently announced on social media that he won’t be coming back to Minnesota for the 2020 season. This one really stings.

The Vikings were likely going to have Ifeadi Odenigbo start opposite Danielle Hunter in 2020 anyway. But having Griffen around for depth and as a mentor would’ve extremely beneficial.

Griffen played lights out a season ago and he showed no signs of slowing down. Minnesota is not only losing a solid piece of their overall pass rush, but they now have no depth at defensive end, as Stephen Weatherly also left the team to sign with the Carolina Panthers.

The only defensive end on the roster besides Danielle Hunter and Odenigbo is Eddie Yarbrough. The same Eddie Yarbrough who the Vikings signed last December and hasn’t played a snap for the team.

This is scary and if Hunter or Odenigbo were to go down with an injury, Minnesota would be screwed. They have to replenish the depth in the draft and could choose to do it early.

Prior to Free Agency, defensive end was a secondary need for the Vikings and one they likely would’ve addressed in the mid-rounds of the draft if a player they liked fell to them.

It now jumps up to the point where they could take a defensive end with one of their two first-round selections. A couple of guys to keep an eye on are Penn State’s Yetur Gross-Matos and Iowa’s A.J. Epenesa.

Gross-Matos is a physical freak with gangly arms and an explosive first step who had 18.5 career sacks for the Nittany Lions. Epenesa is coming off a poor performance at the Combine, but he is a much better football player than an athlete. He is a hard worker who was extremely productive at Iowa with 26.5 career sacks.

Either one of these guys not just improves the depth, but they would likely see a handful of snaps per game in 2020 as a rotational pass rusher.