Following the 2020 NFL Draft, Indianapolis Colts general manager Chris Ballard explained why the team didn’t go after one of the edge rusher prospects in the class.
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Though they had their opportunities to do so over the final two days of the draft, Ballard believes in the talent already in the defensive end room. With Justin Houston returning and the hopeful growth of Kemoko Turay and Ben Banogu, the Colts are betting on their guys.
While that’s all fine and good, adding a veteran defensive end like Everson Griffen makes too much sense for the Colts.
Despite Jadeveon Clowney still being available on the market, Griffen makes perfect sense. Ballard wants to put his faith in the development and talent already in the room, and that’s great—the best way to grow is to play—but Griffen would give the Colts a combination of experience, depth, production and insurance.
Depth in the room
Right now, the depth chart isn’t bad for the Colts at defensive end. Houston is coming off of an 11-sack season (his most since 2014). Turay flashed immensely before suffering a season-ending ankle injury, and the depth of Banogu, Al-Quadin Muhammad and potentially Tyquan Lewis isn’t bad either.
But adding Griffen to the room would give the Colts another infusion of talent and production while also providing insurance in case something happens to the top of the depth chart with injuries.
Ballard is always saying how they are looking for talent to add regardless of the position. Griffen may be 32 years old, but he’s still producing at a strong rate. Adding him to the rotation would be a wise move.
Production
32-year-old edge rushers don’t typically have a lot of interest in the market, but Griffen’s seemingly lack of interest is odd. His age is nothing to be excited about, but the production is still there. He was still a large part of the Vikings defensive front, playing on 78% of snaps in 2019.
Griffen’s 2019 season was a strong one by all means. He had 24 quarterback hits, 8.0 sacks and 11.0 tackles for loss on the edge for the Vikings. To add to that, Griffen recorded 66 total pressures throughout the campaign, which was good for 15th-most in the NFL.
The Colts wouldn’t need Griffen to come in and be a savior. They added DeForest Buckner to the three-technique and Houston proved in 2019 that he’s far from done. That said, adding Griffen just gives the Colts another chance at more production.
Price wouldn’t be high
Not that it matters all that much to the Colts, who still have plenty of salary-cap space to work with following the draft. The Colts wouldn’t have to pay a premium for him, especially seeing as he’s made a total of $34.8 million over 10 seasons. It’s not like he’s expecting the type of money that Clowney is.
Adding him on a one-year deal to be a strong rotational piece seems like a no-brainer.
Conclusion
There aren’t many areas the Colts need to address. It’s good to have faith in developing the younger defensive ends, but that room could still use some depth and talent. It’s why it was expected to be a position that was added to during the draft.
The current players in the room are a solid group, but adding Griffen to the rotation would be a fantastic way of both infusing talent and insuring depth all while doing so at a cheap price.
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