Everson Griffen re-signs with Vikings: How it affects Raiders

The NFL's free agent tampering period in full effect, there are reports flying about of player interest and players being signed by their current teams. One of the first bits of news is not rumor, it's fact. The Vikings have re-signed defensive end, Everson Griffen. While I did not have him among the Raiders' free agent wishlist because of his likelihood of being re-signed, this news still affects the Raiders plans.

On the bright side, it could take the Vikings out of the running to land the likes of Michael Johnson and Michael Bennett -- my projected top two free agent defensive end targets for the Raiders.

On the down side, the expected market for decent defensive ends is getting smaller and smaller and raises the value of the remaining players including Lamarr Houston who has yet to re-sign with the Raiders. Griffen also signed a pretty lucrative deal.

His contract is a 5-year, $42 million deal. It sets a benchmark for guys like Houston and it is right around the expected range of $8 million per season. This can be seen as a good thing or a bad thing as far as re-signing Houston, depending on whether the Raiders see his value as above or below that price tag. Griffin and the Vikings did what the Raiders were expected to do -- find his value on the market and present those numbers to his current team.

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