His return to the Vikings is just a little awkward.
He was right, though
Everson Griffen is back with the Vikings. Whether all his teammates are happy to have him back remains to be seen.
Griffen was a key member of the Minnesota defense from 2010–19, averaging 7.5 sacks per season and making the Pro Bowl four times. After his most recent Pro Bowl season, in 2019, he signed a one-year deal with the Cowboys. He didn’t make much of an impact in Dallas and got traded to the Lions, where he faced the Vikings in the final game of the season.
A few days after that game, Griffen shared his thoughts on his former teammate Kirk Cousins, saying he was “ass” and asking if anybody thought Vikings coach Mike Zimmer was the one who wanted Cousins in Minnesota.
Now, that’s an opinion shared by a majority of NFL fans, but what makes Griffen’s tweets really weird is that they came while he was trying to get the Vikings to bring him back. Seriously! The day after the Vikings–Lions game, Griffen retweeted a bunch of messages from fans telling him to come back to Minnesota. A couple of days later, Chris Tomasson of the Pioneer Press called Griffen to ask if he was interested in a reunion with the Vikes.
“You tell them, I said, ‘If you want it, go get it,’ ” Griffen said. “You can put that.”
Two days after that, Griffen sent the tweets about Cousins.
When Griffen was free to sign a new contract in March, the Vikings didn’t come calling, even though Zimmer said the team was looking for pass-rush help after recording a franchise-worst 23 sacks in 2020. Vikings radio play-by-play announcer Paul Allen said in July that Griffen was “desperate” to play for the Vikings and that Griffen texted him to say he “bleeped up” with his tweets. But at the start of training camp, Griffen was still a free agent.
Griffen finally got his wish when the Vikings signed him on Monday. He’s fine with the situational role that the team plans to use him in, and he’s planning to clear the air with Cousins.
“I haven’t really talked to him yet, but I’m going to get around to doing that, apologize to him” Griffen told reporters on Monday. “I apologized to coach [Zimmer] and Rick [Spielman] about what I said. I take full ownership in that. I’ve still got to talk to Kirk and apologize to him about that.”
He better make that apology before they line up across from each other in practice again.
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