The Minnesota Vikings have signed Everson Griffen on most likely a 1-year, Veteran minimum deal. This is a signing that not only fills a hole in the young DE spot across from Danielle Hunter but also brings a veteran leadership the Vikings have benefitted from before.
Everson started the first 10 seasons of his career in Minnesota where he had 74.5 Sacks and 176 QB Hits in 147 games and 88 starts. He spent the 2020 season, his first without Minnesota, in Dallas and Detroit where he had 33 total tackles, 6 sacks and 7 TFL's in 14 games.
The reason this signing is so intriguing is because as we know Danielle Hunter missed the 2020 season and since being drafted he has always had Everson Griffen lined up across from him. Together as a DE Duo they recorded the stats from 2015-2019 of:
Danielle Hunter(49 GS/78 G)- 193 Solo Tackles, 54.5 Sacks, 67 TFLs, 6 FF & 80 QB Hits Everson Griffen(71 GS/72 G)- 149 Solo Tackles, 45 Sacks, 51 TFLs, 6 FF & 114 QB Hits
They averaged 19.9 combined sacks per season as well as 23.6 TFL's combined in the 5 seasons.
In one of Everson Griffen and Danielle Hunter's last games played together in the Wildcard Round of the 2019 playoffs against the New Orlean Saints, they combined for 4 sacks on 8 total pressures according to PFF. They were insanely dominant and came up big in pivotal moments, including a forced fumble by Hunter in the redzone of the 4th quarter. They were a big reason the Vikings came away with the win.
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