The longtime Minnesota Vikings defensive end is still a free agent.
For someone who has earned four trips to the Pro Bowl during his last five seasons as a member of the Minnesota Vikings, one would assume that Everson Griffen would have found a team to play for this year after he hit free agency in March.
However, that hasn’t been the case for Griffen. The 32-year-old pass rusher is still unsigned and there hasn’t even been much chatter recently about him gaining any interest from around the league.
During a radio interview on Thursday, Yahoo’s Charles Robinson said he’s heard, “nothing,” about Griffen potentially signing anywhere and that, “it’s really weird.”
Why hasn’t the former Minnesota Vikings pass rusher signed with anyone yet?
Chris Tomasson covers the Vikings for the Pioneer Press and he recently spoke with the guys over at Bleeding Purple about some potential reasons for why the veteran defensive end has remained unsigned this offseason.
Tomasson thinks that Griffen’s recent incident in 2018 where he had to take time off to work on his mental health could be playing a part in him currently being without a team.
Not specifically in the aspect that teams are avoiding him due to the difficulties he had with his mental health, but the fact that he is unable to go and meet teams face-to-face due to the current pandemic is likely playing a big factor in an organization who is unfamiliar with him being hesitant about giving him millions of dollars to play for their team.
The one team outside of Minnesota that probably wouldn’t need to meet with Griffen in person if they had interest would be the Cleveland Browns. Former Vikings assistant Kevin Stefanski is now the head coach of the Browns and he was on the Minnesota staff for Griffen’s entire tenure with the team.
However, Cleveland is pretty set when it comes to pass rushers. They’ve got a young stud in Myles Garrett on one side and Olivier Vernon on the other. Vernon’s contract was even re-structured by the Browns recently and that pretty much ended the possibility of them having interest in a veteran defensive end like Griffen.
The best case for the former Minnesota pass rusher has been and still remains, returning to the Twin Cities for the 2020 season. Too much time has passed during this offseason that is already full of uncertainty and Griffen’s best opportunity to remain a significant factor for a defense is with the Vikings.
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