Ex-Vikings DE Everson Griffen Says He Lived in Sober House After 2018 Incident

Free agent Everson Griffen opened up about his tumultuous 2018 season and the work he did to improve his mental health before he could return to playing football.

The former Minnesota Viking told NFL.com's Tom Pelissero that after leaving the game behind for a month and seeking treatment, he changed everything about his home life in order to continue on a path back to peace.

"Nobody knew that I was living in a sober house," Griffen said. "I lived in the sober house for three months, from October to the end of the [2018] season. I was living like I was in college. Had a roommate, had a little bit of clothes. I was going to my meetings. I did the whole nine. That was a part of my recovery. Just to reset. I wanted to reset." 

In late September 2018, the Vikings ordered Griffen to undergo a mental health screen after multiple incidents in which the defensive end became uncontrollably irate at the team facility days including a police report that said Griffen threatened to shoot someone at a downtown Minneapolis hotel. 

Griffen's agent, Brian Murphy told Pelissero doctors were able to rule out "serious mental health issues," yet the defender continued to seek help, ultimately discovering a source of trauma and putting him on a road to recovery that allowed him to return to work while remaining in a treatment program. 

Murphy explained that process in detail through an email to Pelissero:

"After five weeks of work and evaluation, the doctors concluded Everson's erratic behavior resulted from significant unresolved emotional distress, emotional incongruence and a lack of healthy coping skills. In short, his unprocessed emotions from a lifetime of really unfortunate and painful experiences -- including his mother's death in October 2012 (from spontaneous coronary artery dissection while visiting Griffen in Minnesota) -- finally boiled over the top. As a result, Everson 'coped' by relationally detaching and acting out in ways that were very uncharacteristic of his NFL career. While that experience cost him five weeks of the NFL season, it has also changed his life forever in very positive ways."

When he did return to the field, Griffen was his usual dependable self. In 11 games in 2018, he tallied 33 total tackles and 5.5 sacks before recording 41 tackles, eight sacks, two pass deflections and an interception last year at 32 years old. 

Griffen said he's in no hurry to find a new team. The free agent is instead continuing to focus on himself and creating healthy habits. He says he's looking for a franchise with a known positive culture that will allow him to stay on that path. 

"At the end of the day, I'm going to make sure I take care of myself, too. Because that's the most important part, is taking care of myself, and that's the new Everson," Griffen said. "I'm finally taking care of myself, not just in a physical way, in a mental way, in a healthy way and really taking ownership in it and growing from that and being able to identify my flaws and my failures. I feel the best I ever felt."