Green Bay Packers haven’t done much this pandemic. That’s a good thing. No players are in the news for doing something reckless. Players are not demanding trades. Coaches are staying healthy. The only real person Packers fans have heard from is Mark Murphy about fan attendance, future plans, and much more. Yesterday, we had the first bit of news with the Packers transactions. According to Ian Rapoport of the NFL Network, Packers are one of the teams involved with trying to sign Everson Griffen, a free agent from the rival Minnesota Vikings. This would take Green Bay’s pass rush from good to great and make the Packers’ front seven very scary, although Griffen could be using Green Bay as leverage.

This is interesting: As long-time #Vikings DE and current free agent Everson Griffen narrows down his choices, the rival #Packers are among the teams to express interest. That interest is mutual. Minnesota coach Mike Zimmer had recently said he wants Griffen back, as well.

— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) July 27, 2020

Griffen is a 4-3 defensive end in Mike Zimmer’s system. That would have to change with Mike Pettine. My assumption is the Packers would bump Griffen inside. He is an immediate upgrade from Tyler Lancaster or Dean Lowry. Adding him on a side with either Za’Darius Smith or Preston Smith sounds scary to me. Griffen had only two seasons in since 2012 where he had less than six sacks in a season. He has a nose for the quarterback. The USC product is extremely durable too missing very limited time in his 10-year career. The most time he missed was two years ago to attend to a personal matter. The idea of third down and long with the Smith bros, Kenny Clark, and Griffen sounds like complete trouble for the opposition.

Now, let’s be realists too. This could be a leverage play by Griffen. Minnesota said they wanted him back, and Griffen could be using this ‘interest’ by the Packers to bring Minnesota back to the table. We’ll see if that’s accurate or not in the coming weeks. Sometimes, you don’t know the motive of leaking something out until days later. Further, this has been done to the Packers before. They always look in on guys, but that doesn’t mean they’re close to signing them.

With the pandemic, I don’t think people realize how many good free agents there are out there worth a flyer on. Logan Ryan is another guy that the Packers should have some interest with if they want to bulk up their secondary. Jedeveon Clowney is also out there, but with the Smith bros, he likely can’t be an inside guy like Griffen. There are moves still to be made with NFL free agency.

We’ll see if the Packers can land Griffen.

Charlie.