Back With Vikings, Everson Griffen Will Apologize for Calling Kirk Cousins “Ass”

Things should be awesomely awkward for the pair at training camp in Minnesota

Minnesota Vikings defensive end Everson Griffen. He resigned with Minnesota and is now going to apologize to Kirk Cousins after calling the quarterback "ass" on Twitter.
Defensive end Everson Griffen is back with the Minnesota Vikings.
Jayne Kamin-Oncea/Getty

While he was with the Lions last season after being traded to Detroit by the Dallas Cowboys, longtime Vikings defensive end Everson Griffen took a shot at Minnesota starting quarterback Kirk Cousins.

In a now-deleted Twitter thread, Griffen said that “Kirk Cousins is ass” and told people to “Ask [Minnesota head coach Mike] ZIMMER if he wanted Kirk?????”

Soon afterward, he said he was sorry.

Griffen, who just re-signed with the purple he spent the first 10 years of his career with, has some (more) apologizing to do.

Speaking with reporters, the four-time Pro Bowler said he had already apologized to Zimmer and general manager Rick Spielman, but still needs to catch up with Cousins.

“I take full ownership in that,” Griffen said, per the Pioneer Press. “I’ve still got to talk to Kirk and apologize to him about that … I’m just going to talk to Kirk and apologize to him and have a man-to-man conversation. It’s just good to see familiar faces. It’s like being home … I really wanted to be here and I’m excited to be back. I’m just happy that things worked out the way they did and they welcomed me back with open arms.”

While he’s talking with Cousins, Griffen might find it wise to convince the 33-year-old quarterback to get the vaccine for COVID-19. After being deemed a close contact to fellow quarterback Kellen Mond after the latter tested positive for COVID-19, Cousins was quarantined earlier this month because he was unvaccinated and is still at risk of having that happen during the regular season.

Coach Zimmer is concerned enough about the situation that he had renowned epidemiologist Michael Osterholm come speak to the Vikings during a team meeting on Monday morning at training camp.

“Some of the questions that were asked are things you hear on the internet,” Zimmer said, according to The Star Tribune. “Like [Osterholm] said, he was going to be 100% honest. If he knows the answer, he’ll tell it. If he didn’t know it, he would tell it as well. I thought he did a terrific job and hopefully it helps. I just care about these players and I care about their families. So that’s my main reason. If they miss a game because of COVID, so be it. But I don’t want them to get sick and I don’t want their families to get sick or their kids to get sick or my grandkids to get sick.”

Earlier this month, the Vikings had the league’s lowest COVID-19 vaccination rate among players, according to a league source. Unlike the Raiders, the team does not currently require fans to be vaccinated to attend home games.

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