The Vikings didn’t give up on defensive end Everson Griffen after two arrests in the span of a week in January. But new head coach Leslie Frazier delivered a clear message.
“He said, ‘Know what you’re here for,’” Griffen told the St. Paul Pioneer Press. “I’m here to play football. I’m here to represent the Minnesota Vikings, and I want to represent them in a good way, not a bad way.”
That conversation came when Griffen was planning a Facebook-advertised party in Vegas a short time after Griffen was arrested for allegedly being drunk in public and resisting arrest in less than a week.
Griffen canceled the party and decided to get out of Los Angeles to spend his offseason in Minnesota, where he is working out with teammates and is presumably less likely to get in trouble.
“I had a little rough stretch,” Griffen said. “Coaches want me back, and that’s the place for me to be. That’s not me at all. I’m just trying to make changes. I’ve got big years coming up. I’m just trying to show the Minnesota Vikings I’m here for good.”
Griffen says that his charges of resisting arrest have been dropped.