Everson Griffen comes in at #19 on NFL Network Top 100

After a couple of episodes that didn’t include any members of the Minnesota Vikings, the NFL Network Top 100 of 2018 has added another one.

Defensive end Everson Griffen is the latest. . .and, likely, the last. . .member of the Vikings to make this year’s list, checking in at #19.

Griffen got off to a torrid start to the 2017 season, registering at least one sack in each of the Vikings’ first eight contests and going into the bye week with ten sacks. He injured his foot on the final play of the Vikings’ victory over the Cleveland Browns in London, and the injury slowed him down for the remainder of the season. Over the Vikings’ final eight regular season games, he added just three sacks to his total, and also got one in the playoff victory over New Orleans.

When he’s healthy, nobody doubts that Everson Griffen is one of the league’s best pass rushers, and his standing on this list reflects that. Griffen’s standing vastly improved over where he was in 2017. He jumped 73 spots from his standing on the previous year’s list, where he checked in at #92.

The inclusion of Griffen makes seven members of the Vikings that are on this year’s list, as Griffen joins Adam Thielen (#36), Harrison Smith (#46), Xavier Rhodes (#55), Stefon Diggs (#65), Linval Joseph (#83), and Kirk Cousins (#94).

While I’d love to see more members of the Minnesota Vikings on this year’s list, I’d have to think that the inclusion of Griffen pretty much makes it a wrap for the purple. I can’t imagine that Anthony Barr or Eric Kendricks or Danielle Hunter is going to crack the Top Ten on the list or anything, but seven spots on the Top 100 is still a pretty damn fine tally for the Vikings.