Defensive end Brian Robison puts evolving role before sack totals

Veteran defensive end Brian Robison is back with the Vikings after an uncertain offseason and content with his evolving role in Mike Zimmer’s defense.

Robison had five sacks last season and has 9.5 in two seasons under Zimmer. His career high was nine sacks in 2013 and he’s still eyeing double-digit totals, but understands the bigger picture.

“It’s always a goal every year, but sometimes you’ve got to do what you have to do to help the team win, and sometimes double-digit sacks just isn’t in order for that,” Robison said during last week’s organized team activity at Winter Park.

Robison is entering his 10th season with the Vikings and will make a base salary of $3.75 million in 2016 and $5.3 million in 2017. Had the Vikings moved on from Robison during the offseason, it would have freed up significant cap space, but the veteran is back and ready to do whatever it takes to win again.

“A lot times people just put sack numbers on our position, but at the end of the day there are a lot of things that we do, especially in our defense,” Robison said. “You look at what I did last year, there was a lot of stuff I did linebacker-wise and tackle-wise. So it’s more than just about the sack numbers. It’s about what we can do to make ourselves successful, but also make our teammates successful and make your team successful.”

The Vikings also brought back veteran linebacker Chad Greenway and added veteran safety Michael Griffin to strengthen the defensive leadership group that also includes defensive end Everson Griffen.