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Ex-Viking Everson Griffen denies being ‘unruly’ on MSP-bound flight sent back to Chicago

Griffen has a history of causing troubling incidents over the years.

The Minnesota Star Tribune
July 17, 2025 at 3:50PM
Minnesota Vikings defensive end Everson Griffen (97).
Minnesota Vikings defensive end Everson Griffen (97). (Carlos Gonzalez/The Minnesota Star Tribune)

Former Vikings defensive lineman Everson Griffen is denying that he caused trouble on a flight Wednesday bound for Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport.

The 37-year-old former standout, who lives in the Twin Cities, created an unspecified scene soon after takeoff from Chicago, according to TMZ Sports.

Delta Air Lines spokesperson Berj Alexanian told the Minnesota Star Tribune that pilots went back to O’Hare International Airport “to have an unruly passenger removed.”

Alexanian added that “Delta has zero tolerance for unruly behavior and will always work with law enforcement to that end. We apologize to our customers for the delay in their travel, as safety and security comes before everything else at Delta.”

While there was no word about whether Griffen was arrested, Alexanian said, “I recommend reaching out to the Chicago O’Hare Police Department.”

Griffen released a statement to the Star Tribune that said his behavior “was not unruly at all. Why would they let me go?”

The FBI’s spokeswoman in Chicago, Gabrielle Szlenkier, said the agency was “aware of reports of an alleged unruly passenger on a Delta flight originating from O’Hare airport ... however, no further information is available for release at this time.”

O’Hare police said it had nothing to say about Griffen’s actions on the plane.

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In November, Griffen was sentenced to a 60-day term for driving while drunk in May on a Minneapolis interstate. Judge Gina Brandt set aside a year in the workhouse for Griffen and put him on supervisory probation for four years.

In July 2023, he was stopped in Chanhassen and accused of driving 60 mph in a 40 mph zone. His blood-alcohol content was 0.09%. Griffen pleaded guilty to a reduced careless driving charge in February 2024 and was placed on a year’s probation.

In the months following that allegation, Griffen crashed his car into a fence and gazebo in Mound on Oct. 28, 2023. He was cited and convicted of failure to drive with due care, a petty misdemeanor. On Dec. 7, 2023, in Shakopee, police stopped Griffen for driving 55 mph in a 30 mph zone. He was convicted of a petty misdemeanor in that case as well.

In December 2021, following multiple troubling incidents, Griffen announced on social media that he had been living with bipolar disorder.

Griffen called 911 shortly after 3 a.m. from his Minnetrista home on Nov. 24, 2021, saying someone was with him, and he needed help. He also told the dispatcher he fired one round from a gun, but no one was wounded, police said. They added that no intruder was found.

The same day, Griffen had posted, then deleted, a video on Instagram saying people were trying to kill him as he held a gun in his hand. He was alone inside the house, with police outside, until he emerged and agreed to be taken for treatment.

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He also spent four weeks undergoing mental health treatment in 2018 after two incidents that September — one at the Hotel Ivy in downtown Minneapolis, the other at his home — that prompted police involvement. He later revealed he lived in a sober house for the remainder of the 2018 season.

Griffen returned to the Vikings in 2019 and played in 17 of the Vikings’ 18 regular-season and postseason games. He spent 2020 with Dallas and Detroit before the Vikings brought him back for the 2021 season in a one-year deal that capped his career.

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about the writer

Paul Walsh

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Paul Walsh is a general assignment reporter at the Minnesota Star Tribune. He wants your news tips, especially in and near Minnesota.

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