Everson Griffen is now a Detroit Lion. The team shipped a conditional sixth-round pick in the 2021 NFL Draft to the Dallas Cowboys for Griffen, one of the NFL’s most consistent pass rushers over the last decade.
Griffen’s time in Dallas didn’t last long. He signed a one-year deal as a free agent and played just seven games for the 2-5 Cowboys. Griffen managed 2.5 sacks, 20 total tackles and three TFLs in playing under 60 percent of snaps on one of the NFL’s worst defenses.
What are the Lions getting in Griffen? I asked some people who cover the Cowboys for their thoughts on Griffen’s performance in Dallas.
Here’s the Dallas perspective on how Griffen played and what the Lions are getting in the 32-year-old.
From Landon McCool, the host of the Locked On Cowboys podcast:
Everson’s time with the Cowboys was, unfortunately, very representative of the Cowboys offseason free agent acquisitions overall. There was great hope when he signed, that he would be near the top of a DE rotation that would send waves of talented pass rushers at opposing quarterbacks. It certainly did not work out that way… Everson looked pretty washed early on.
He doesn’t show a wide variety of pass rush tools. however, for the techniques he does employ (Bull, Spin), he normally executes at an extremely high level. It appeared early on that his body wasn’t ready for the season, and this led to a dulling of his tools. Maybe the COVID-19 pandemic hurt his preparation or conditioning?
I will say that the last couple of games he has seemed to turn a corner a bit, maybe due to finally working into game shape. The Cowboys probably feel like they’re selling high, but I could easily see a situation where Griffen goes to the Lions and improves his play, simply because of potentially being in better shape than earlier in the season.
Patrick Conn, managing editor of Longhorns Wire and Cowboys contributor to several sites and radio stations over the years:
The Everson Griffin tenure in Dallas was an odd one for the Cowboys. He was the veteran that was expected to alleviate some of the loss felt by Robert Quinn’s departure to Chicago. Especially with Aldon Smith having not played in five years, no one knew what the expectation was going to be. The team also had Randy Gregory but had to wait for his conditional reinstatement. Gregory and rookie Bradlee Anae will hopefully eat up the snaps that Griffin commanded.
Overall Griffin was the second-best pass rusher on the team from a production standpoint, he has 2.5 sacks on the season. The expectation was to release him on passing situations once the Cowboys explosive offense built leads. It never happened and the team lost Dak Prescott and lost their explosiveness. Griffin was a rotational piece and a solid one.
Most of the issues that resulted in Griffin getting upset with the local media had more to do with the issues on defense. Mike Nolan’s unit is one of the worst in football and due in large part to most of the defense not understanding what is being asked of them. Frankly, they aren’t talented enough either. Griffin will give the Lions some experience and disruption from the edge.
Finally, John Owning of the Dallas Morning News had this to say:
Everson Griffen’s start in Dallas was a slow one as he struggled to adapt to his role in Mike Nolan’s hybrid defense. Nevertheless, Griffen started to really pick things up the past two weeks, showing improved burst and quicker hands. He’s not as explosive as he was in his prime Minnesota days, but he still plays with a ton of power, identifies boots/waggles well and makes some plays vs the run. Loves to use speed to power while using the spin move as a counter. Hasn’t hit his infamous spin move much but the fluidity and explosiveness of it improved as the weeks wore on.
Overall
It sounds like Griffen wasn’t necessarily in great shape at the start of the season and wasn’t a good fit in Mike Nolan’s defensive scheme. The uptick in the last couple of weeks is more indicative of what the Lions should get in Griffen as he tries to learn his third system in a year.
