Shocking Trade: Vikings agree to terms with $92 million former Pro Bowler in free agency

The Minnesota Vikings added another piece in free agency, continuing their re-tool on both sides of the ball.

“Breaking: Free agent CB Shaq Griffin is signing with the #Vikings on a 1-year deal, up to $6M, sources tell @BleacherReport,” Bleacher Report’s Jordan Schultz reported on X on March 19.

The team confirmed the signing a short while later. Vikings.com’s Craig Peters noted Griffin’s 79 starts and 89 total games of experience in a young cornerback room. Former Arizona Cardinals 2019 second-round pick Byron Murphy, who is just 26 years old, currently leads the group.

After Murphy, 2022 fourth-round pick Akayleb Evans and 2023 third-rounder Mekhi Blackmon logged the most snaps at corner last season, per Pro Football Reference.

Evan’s draft classmate, former second-round pick Andrew Booth, was fourth.

Griffin, 28, split last season between the Houston Texans and Carolina Panthers. The Texans released him in November amid a career-low 57% snap share on defense. He had also logged fewer than 18% of his squad’s special teams snaps every year of his career before last season.

He logged 43% of Carolina’s special teams snaps after his arrival. Griffin was up to 57% of those snaps for Houston.

That shift played a part in his exit from Houston during the season.

Texans Cut Shaq Griffin Over Playing Time.

“Griffin was starting until former first-round draft pick Derek Stingley Jr. was activated from injured reserve,” KPRC 2’s Aaron Wilson wrote on November 29. “Griffin played sparingly the past few games, playing on special teams while Stingley intercepted two passes.

“The Texans discharged Griffin basically since he was now not playing on defense, which spoken to a enormous alter in status for the previous third-round draft choose from Central Florida, and they needed to utilize other players they considered had more esteem and encounter on uncommon groups, agreeing to sources.”

Houston deferred Griffin on November 29 and Carolina won their claim for him on November 30.

Griffin marked a three-year, $40 million contract with the Jacksonville Pumas ahead of the 2021 season as it were to be cut in what was generally a cost-cutting move two a long time afterward.

The 6-foot corner has managed an account $34.3 million in career profit, per Spotrac, who too anticipated that he would arrive a one-year, $2 million contract in free office. That’s three times less than what the Vikings gave him over the same span.

Restricting passers have completed at slightest 60% of their passes in Griffin’s heading in all but one of his past seven seasons within the association.

That solitary season was his Master Bowl campaign in 2019.
Griffin has seven interceptor in his career, logging one final season after a two-year dry season. He set a career-high with three picks in 2020. In a perfect world, Blackmon, Booth, Evans, and indeed Murphy all take jumps this season rendering Griffin an protections approach.

Vikings Begin New Era on Both Sides of the Ball After Free Agency.

The Vikings are stepping into uncharted territory for General Manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah and Head Coach Kevin O’Connell. They must prepare journeyman Sam Darnold to take the reins from Kirk Cousins.

Defensive coordinator Brian Flores is in a similar spot. He lost his top three edge rushers from 2023 — Danielle Hunter, D.J. Wonnum, and Marcus Davenport — to free agency.

Opening day starting middle linebacker Jordan Hicks left in free agency too.

Jonathan Greenard and Andrew Van Ginkel step in on the edges. The latter has experience playing under Flores. And Blake Cashman, Greenard’s former teammate on the Texans, replaces Hicks.

With all of the new faces on the Vikings being integrated following free agency, it could prove beneficial in the locker room and huddle that several already have a rapport.