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.
Shaq Griffin!!! pic.twitter.com/3sRzEqx7cg
— Apollo Texans (@ApolloTexans) November 12, 2023
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 released Griffin primarily because he was no longer playing on defense, which represented a big change in status for the former third-round draft pick from Central Florida, and they wanted to utilize other players they considered had more value and experience on special teams, according to sources.”
Houston waived Griffin on November 29 and Carolina won their claim for him on November 30.
Griffin signed a three-year, $40 million contract with the Jacksonville Jaguars ahead of the 2021 season only to be cut in what was largely a cost-cutting move two years later.
The 6-foot corner has banked $34.3 million in career earnings, per Spotrac, who also projected that he would land a one-year, $2 million contract in free agency. That is three times less than what the Vikings gave him over the same span.
Opposing passers have completed at least 60% of their passes in Griffin’s direction in all but one of his previous seven seasons in the league.
That lone season was his Pro Bowl campaign in 2019.
Griffin has seven interceptions in his career, logging one last season after a two-year drought. He set a career-high with three picks in 2020. Ideally, Blackmon, Booth, Evans, and even Murphy all take leaps this season rendering Griffin an insurance policy.
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.
