The rundown: Everson Griffen's situation, Zimmer and Kirk's relationship & scouting the 49ers
The latest on Griffen's situation and more from TCO Performance Center
By Sam Ekstrom and Matthew Coller
EAGAN — Early Wednesday morning, Vikings defensive end Everson Griffen posted disturbing Instagram videos that showed him with a gun. The team released a statement prior to Mike Zimmer speaking with the media that stated personnel were at his house working with him. It wasn’t until after Zimmer could not confirm that Griffen was safe that it became clear the situation was ongoing.
As the team took part in media availabilities and practice, local police and Vikings employees were at Griffen’s residence trying to get him to come out of his house. Late in the afternoon, the team released another statement saying that he came out of his house and went with authorities to seek care.
GM Rick Spielman was among those at Griffen’s house. He spoke after Griffen left the house safely.
“I can’t tell you how fortunate we are to have the mental health team we have in place that was there with me and to watch the law enforcement groups and how they handled the situation,” Spielman said. “My job and role was basically to support anything they needed, to communicate back here in the building, to communicate with our ownership group. Keep everybody informed of what’s going on. But I was, I don’t want to say floored or surprised, but so impressed with how everybody worked together and handled a very difficult situation.”
Spielman said Griffen is getting the help that he needs.
The veteran pass rusher left the team in 2018 for four games due to mental health issues. He said earlier this year that he felt like he was in a much better place mentally having returned to the Vikings after spending a year with Dallas and Detroit.
The Vikings’ GM credited the franchise’s emphasis on having mental health resources in place to act quickly when they knew Griffen was in potential danger.
“If your ownership group does not put this as a top priority in your organization and your ownership group does not provide resources necessary to prevent a potential tragedy,” he said.
In one of Griffen’s IG videos, he said that Dalvin Cook had purchased a gun for him. Cook told the media he did not know why Griffen said that and the running back told the team he did not buy a gun for his teammate.
In terms of how the team will deal with Griffen’s absence, Zimmer said that Sheldon Richardson will likely need to play defensive end more this week.
“I've been playing football for a long time, going back to my high school days, I feel like I knew the schemes around here, pretty much knew the playbook already coming in,” Richardson said. “Just had to get ready for the trigger words I'm not used to hearing, going from 3-technique to D-end. It really helped me out a lot.”
Co-defensive coordinator and D-line coach Andre Patterson noted that Richardson’s size makes for a unique challenge for tackles who are used to facing lighter D-ends.
“Even though he’s a big man, he’s athletic enough to go out on the edge and not feel out of place, I thought he did a tremendous job last Sunday,” Patterson said. “That tackle was having a hard time with him working speed-to-power. He’s a 300-pound guy that was running and coming back downhill on him, so for some big guys, it’s hard to be out there in space like that, but Sheldon was comfortable doing that.”
The Vikings also signed Tashawn Bower off the Patriots’ practice squad. Bower played in Minnesota in 2017 and 2018.
Cole or Bradbury or both
Last week, the Vikings decided to stick with Mason Cole at center rather than turning back to Garrett Bradbury, who missed two weeks with COVID. Zimmer said they stayed with Cole because he was playing well. However, against Green Bay’s star defensive tackle Kenny Clark, Cole had a tough time.
Now what will they do at center?
“I think both guys will play and both guys are going to practice,” offensive coordinator Klint Kubiak said. “And we just got to keep getting both of them a lot of reps.”
Does that mean a rotation at center?
“Or one will have to play guard, or one guy might have to play center,” Kubiak said. “We know that both guys are going to help us throughout the season and maybe it’s in this next game, maybe it’s both of them, maybe it’s not. But both guys are going to contribute as all our reserves guys are that aren’t getting time right now.”
If they do decide to move Bradbury or Cole to guard, it would presumably be the right guard spot. Oli Udoh ranks 49th of 60 guards by PFF’s pass blocking grade and has given up the 10th most pressures.
Zimmer “green lights” Kirk… or does he?
Even while things are going well for the Vikings offense, the pattern of subtle disagreements between the head coach and quarterback oddly continues.
No, Zimmer isn’t calling out Cousins. Nor is Cousins calling out Zimmer. But their perception of certain events or narratives has failed to mesh on a number of occasions, most recently this week with Zimmer saying in multiple press conferences that he’s encouraged Cousins to feel more freedom to throw the ball downfield within the offense and live with any interceptions that might surface as a result.
“I think just maybe giving him the green light a little bit more,” Zimmer said Wednesday. “If you throw an interception, hey, you throw an interception. You turn the ball over, we gotta go out and stop them. That's part of it. I think you have to, when plays are there, you gotta try and make them.”
Cousins, however, didn’t seem to feel any more liberated. After one of his best games as a Viking, Cousins said he might’ve been “too aggressive,” likely referring to some nearly intercepted passes. Again on Wednesday he took a cautious stance.
“Well, I don’t want to throw picks even if the coach gave me the green light to,” Cousins said. “I don’t want to walk off the field and feel good about it. So I’m still pretty much playing the way I’ve always played. Certainly I don’t feel constrained by any means, but still very systematic, decisive. You understand when you hold the football, you hold much of the organization in your hands. So you want to take that seriously.”
Perhaps the two can hash things out at their Thursday meeting. But even the meeting itself has been a source of disagreement between the two parties with Zimmer originally saying that he and Cousins had their first-ever 1-on-1 session this summer, while Cousins later claimed it had happened before.
The two have also expressed different views on how much freedom Cousins has to call timeouts (Cousins said he couldn’t call them; Zimmer said he could), Cousins’ leadership ability (Zimmer said it was better; Cousins said he was the same guy as always), and Cousins’ belief in the vaccine protocols (Zimmer said in a radio interview that Cousins didn’t believe in them; Cousins refuted that).
Zimmer still maintains a belief that the weekly meetings are a positive experience.
“I think it just gives us, gives him a better perspective of me, and I get a better perspective of him,” Zimmer said. “I’m not saying that’s the reason he’s playing good. I just think it has helped. He might say opposite, I don’t know.”
He is, in fact, saying the opposite of many of Zimmer’s claims. The meetings could very well be useful, but the two can’t seem to agree on the messaging.
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