Dallas Cowboys Rumors: Everson Griffen No Longer On Team’s Radar
The Dallas Cowboys might have kept their offense intact by re-signing Amari Cooper and Dak Prescott, but the defense is another matter. So far, the team has only lost defensive pieces during the most recent free agency period. Now, it appears one player the Cowboys had reportedly been going after might not be on the team’s radar after all. Everson Griffen had been thought to be a good fit for the Cowboys for a while now, but ESPN’s Ed Werder recently posted on Twitter he’s heard Dallas has turned its attention elsewhere.
Werder said he talked to the front office and was told the former Minnesota Vikings star is being passed up. That comes as a bit of a surprise for some NFL analysts, who believe the Pro Bowl pass rusher would be a fit.
Checking with #Cowboys and seems unlikely they pursue DE Everson Griffen as replacement for Robert Quinn.
— Ed Werder (@WerderEdESPN) March 20, 2020
In particular, the Dallas Morning News believes Griffen is still someone the Cowboys should pursue. Columnist David Moore believes it would have been fun to see the team go after wide receiver Emmanuel Sanders, but the pressure is on the defense. Griffen is someone who the team needs in order to upgrade the pass rush, especially after losing Robert Quinn to the Chicago Bears.
When the former San Francisco 49ers receiver ended up signing with the New Orleans Saints, Moore believes it allowed the Cowboys to pinpoint focus on the “D.”
Griffen told Minnesota Vikings fans he was going elsewhere on Friday afternoon and has had no shortage of teams to come calling since. Werder didn’t offer details on why the Cowboys are no longer interested, just a day after Griffen became available, though it could be a matter of the defender’s age.
Griffen entered the league with the Vikings in 2010 and spent his first four years coming off the bench. In his first 59 games played, he started just one. Minnesota eventually saw the error of its ways, and he became the team’s starter in 2014 and he never looked back.
That season, he recorded 12 sacks, and followed that up with 10.5 and eight sacks over the next two seasons respectively. In 2016, he capped a three-year run of consecutive Pro Bowl appearances with a career-high 13 sacks.
Griffen slid back a bit in 2018, recording just five sacks, but last year, he bounced back with eight sacks and yet another Pro Bowl appearance. With the Cowboys reportedly moving on from Everson Griffen, reports around the NFL say the leading candidate to land the defensive end are the Seattle Seahawks.
