It’s been a rollercoaster these past few weeks for Vikings defensive end Everson Griffen, but he’ll finally be returning to the field. Griffen is “expected to be active and play on Sunday ” against the Saints, according to Courtney Cronin of ESPN. It’ll be the first game Griffen has played in since the team’s Week 2 tie against the Packers.
The team initially announced a little over a month ago that he was dealing with a “serious personal health issue”, that was initially clouded in secrecy. More details began to pour out, and it was eventually revealed that he was dealing with mental health issues following a scary incident at a Minneapolis hotel.
For a few weeks there was no update on his situation, and Minnesota continued to insist there was no timeline for his return. Then out of nowhere, Griffen returned to practice on Wednesday. The team was initially mum on whether or not he would play, but it appears he’ll be all systems go for the team’s pivotal game against New Orleans.
It’s great to hear that Griffen is apparently past whatever was troubling him, and it’ll be a massive boost to the Vikings’ banged up defense. Griffen will provide a massive upgrade to Minnesota’s pass-rush, and they’ll need him to get in Drew Brees’ face early and often if they want to win the re-match of last year’s NFC divisional round thriller.
Glad to see ‘player safety’ is really important to the league. If he weren’t a pro player, I’d bet it take a bit longer than 3 weeks to return to a job after threatening hotel staff. What was the over/under on his return?
Last played week 2, this is week 8 someone must’ve failed basic math
Donald Trump has threatened just about everyone, probably has more serious mental issues than Griffen but isn’t required to take a break from his job.
What comedic talent, sign this guy up to go on tour.
He’s coming back from a mental health issue, not a torn ACL. The turnaround time with stuff like that isn’t always very long calendar-wise, and often getting back to normalcy is a big part of recovering.
“It is not easy to become sane” – George Orwell, 1984
Messed up, but I just think of that Waterboy scene “I never said she was the devil oh God please dont hurt me” or the Program’s Alvin Mack