More Details Released on Griffen Re-Signing

Now that it has been a few days since the Vikings officially re-signed Everson Griffen, various details are starting to emerge about his contract and his potential market.

Read on for the scoop and some added analysis!

Griffen's five-year, $42.5 million deal with the Vikings contains just a $6 million dollar signing bonus and is only fully guaranteed for the first two years, according to Tom Pelissero of the USA Today.

Griffen is scheduled to be an $8.2 million cap hit under this deal for the first four years of the contract, with a boost to $9.7 million in the final year.

What this structure means for Griffen is that there is minimal risk for the Vikings after the first two years of the deal. If the Vikings feel Griffen is not living up to his contract by the end of the 2015 season, they can cut him and will face only $3.6 million in dead money.

In other words, Griffen will have to perform to keep getting paid. Not a bad move for a player that still needs to prove he's worth that kind of investment.

Other news on the Griffen signing came when it was reported that the Denver Broncos were pursuing Griffen, according to Alex Marvez. Their offer was reported to be in the ballpark of $9 million annually, meaning the Vikings had to step up their efforts to keep Griffen.

If this report is true, it explains why Griffen received such a significant payday from the Vikings. It seems the team wanted to keep a young, ascending talent in-house and were willing to play ball to do so.

Even though Griffen's contract may seem large, since players like Michael Johnson and Michael Bennett signed for similar money, it's important to note that those players are seeing more guarantees and do not have the versatility (not to mention the youth) that Griffen has. It seems to Vikings actually made a nice deal considering the whole market, even though that seemed to be in question early into the free agency period.