MINNEAPOLIS -- Even though the Minnesota Vikings agreed to a new four-year deal with Andrew Sendejo on March 5, the seeds for a different kind of safety on the Vikings' roster had been laid weeks before that.

On Feb. 25, during his news conference at the NFL combine, Vikings coach Mike Zimmer responded to a question about the safety spot next to Harrison Smith by saying, "Well, I think this: If Harrison Smith was paired with a guy that had some other qualities, we could allow Harrison to be more of an impactful player. I don’t know if that answers your question or not, but I think Harrison can be more impactful if he had the right kind of guy next to him.”

Was that player already on the roster? "I don't know," Zimmer said.

The Vikings are hopeful that former Titans safety Michael Griffin, who has recorded 25 interceptions in nine seasons, can be effective in pass coverage in 2016. Wesley Hitt/Getty Images

Vikings defensive backs coach Jerry Gray had already reached out to former Tennessee Titans safety Michael Griffin by that point, and it was at the combine that the Vikings began to lay the framework for Griffin to reunite with Gray in Minnesota. Time will tell whether the 31-year-old is the kind of safety Zimmer envisioned, but in Griffin, the template for what the Vikings are looking for could be there.

"He's played both strong and free [safety]," general manager Rick Spielman said. "He's always been a very athletic safety. He's had a couple Pro Bowl years. I know this staff likes to take guys like that, that maybe had a history, and kind of revamp their careers. He's still young enough. Just watching tape on him, he still can move and has range on the back end."

Spielman said the Vikings also like some of their young safeties -- Anthony Harris and Antone Exum among them -- but there's a common thread between those two players and Griffin. For the Vikings to fully unleash Smith's peripatetic skill set, moving him from the back end of the defense to the edge of the line, as either a blitzer or a decoy for the quarterback, they need a safety they trust in coverage. And though he's improved in two years, Sendejo probably won't be the kind of safety the Vikings consistent leave in deep coverage. If Griffin still has enough range to play the position at age 31, and can draw on the ball skills that have helped him intercept 25 passes in nine seasons, he could be what the Vikings are looking for.

"You would say he's an up-and-coming young safety; I do not look at it like that," Griffin said. "I've been watching his game for a long time now, and he's one of the top three or four safeties in the league. The way I look at it is, I'm coming in, competing and trying to help this team win ballgames. Whatever the coaches ask me to do, I'm going to do it. I'm a team player, and I look at a team before me."

The Vikings' investment in Griffin is relatively minimal -- $2.5 million on a one-year deal, with $750,000 guaranteed -- but it was clear from Zimmer's remarks at the combine that the team had a clear idea of what it wanted in a worthy counterpart for Smith. The fact the Vikings signed Griffin, instead of pursuing a reunion between Zimmer and former Bengals safety Reggie Nelson, represents a hope the former Titans safety can still do enough to make that idea a reality.