Everson Griffen

He became the first USC true freshman to start an opener on the defensive line in 21 seasons since Tim Ryan in 1986 against Illinois and the first true freshman to start on the defensive line since Shaun Cody did so in 2001 against Utah.

In the Trojans' 24–3 victory over Oregon State on November 3, Griffen posted six tackles and a career-high 3.5 of USC's nine total sacks to earn Rivals.com National Freshman of the Week honors.

On November 22, he had six tackles, one sack, and one fumble recovery that set up a USC touchdown at Arizona State.

Everson Griffen (born December 22, 1987) is an American former professional footbal player who was a defensive end in the National Football League (NFL).

A graduate of Agua Fria High School, Griffen played college football for the USC Trojans.

Following his junior season, he attended the 2005 Arizona summer camp, where he ran a 4.46-second 40-yard dash at 6-foot-4 and about 260 pounds, which earned him the nickname "The Freak" and led to comparisons to All-Pro defensive end Jevon Kearse.

Griffen also earned first-team all-region honors in basketball.

His 2006 senior season honors included Super Prep Player of the Year, Scout.com Player of the Year, Parade All-American, EA Sports All-American first-team, Super Prep All-American, Prep Star All-American, Scout.com All-American, Lemming All-American, Super Prep Elite 50, Prep Star 100, Rivals.com 100, Super Prep All-Farwest, Prep Star All-West, Scout.com All-West, Long Beach Press-Telegram Best in the West first-team, Orange County Register Fab 15 first-team, Arizona Republic All Arizona, West Valley View First-team, Tacoma News-Tribune Western 100 and Gatorade Arizona Player of the Year.

Also a standout track & field athlete, Griffen was one of the state's top performers in the throwing events.

During the recruiting process, he took official visits to USC, Michigan, Notre Dame, Oregon, UCLA, and Florida before committing to the Trojans on November 24, 2006.

At the 2007 4A I State Meet, he won both the shot put and discus events.

He recorded top throws of 17.67 meters (58 feet) in the shot put and 55.11 meters (180 feet, 8 inches) in the discus.

Following his high school career, Griffen was selected to play in the 2007 U.S. Army All-American Bowl along with fellow USC recruits Marc Tyler, Kristofer O'Dowd, Joe McKnight, and Chris Galippo.

Griffen had an impressive showing as a first-year true freshman backup defensive end in 2007, playing primarily in pass rushing situations.

Overall, in 2007, while appearing in all 13 games (2 starts), he totaled 21 tackles, including 5.5 for losses of 30 yards (all were sacks), two forced fumbles, one fumble recovery and two pass deflections.

For his season efforts in 2007, he was named to the Sporting News Freshman All-American first-team, Football Writers Association of America Freshman All-American first-team, Rivals.com Freshman All-American first-team, Scout.com Freshman All-American first-team and Collegefootballnews.com Freshman All-American second-team, plus was the Sporting News Pac-10 Defensive Freshman of the Year and was an All-Pac-10 honorable mention pick.

In the fall practice before his freshman season, Griffen and veteran defensive end Kyle Moore got into heated competition that culminated with a fight during practice; the two reconciled and are now friends.

During spring practices, former USC coach Pete Carroll staged a prank by having the Los Angeles Police Department enter a team meeting and arrest Griffen for “physically abusing a freshman” (Trojans offensive guard Matt Meyer); Griffen was previously aware of the prank.

In his sophomore year in 2008, Griffen was USC's pass rush specialist as a backup defensive end.

He appeared in all 12 games (all but Washington State, missed due to illness) and started the first three games (Virginia, Ohio State and Oregon State) for the Trojans, compiling 18 tackles, including 6 for losses of 43 yards (with 4.5 sacks for minus 39 yards).

He had three tackles against Oregon State and California and two tackles against Virginia, Ohio State, Oregon and Stanford (1.5 for losses).

On July 4, 2009, at a Fourth of July party on Nantucket Island, Griffen and a teammate, linebacker Jordan Campbell, were cited by the Nantucket Police Department for a noise violation; no charges were filed and the two agreed to write a letter of apology.

Overall, he finished the 2009 season with 45 total tackles, eight sacks, one pass defensed, and one forced fumble.

In 2009, Griffen was second-team All-Pac-10.

After USC's 24–13 victory over Boston College in the 2009 Emerald Bowl, Griffen announced he would forgo his final year of eligibility and enter the 2010 NFL draft.

He was selected by the Minnesota Vikings in the fourth round of the 2010 NFL draft and played for them for 10 seasons before signing with the Dallas Cowboys in 2020.

He was traded to the Detroit Lions later that year, then re-signed with the Vikings in August 2021.

Griffen attended Agua Fria High School in Avondale, Arizona, the same high school as Vikings Hall of Famer Randall McDaniel.

At Agua Fria, Griffen played as a defensive lineman and running back for the Owls high school football team.

As a junior, he rushed for 794 yards on 142 carries for eight touchdowns, and had 12 receptions for 168 yards and one 71-yard reception where he outraced everybody for a score.

On defense, he was double and triple-teamed but still managed 47 tackles, five sacks and three fumble recoveries.

As a senior, Griffen recorded 77 tackles, 16 sacks and a fumble recovery as a defensive end and ran for 1,251 yards on 159 carries (7.9 avg.) with 20 touchdowns and had 6 receptions with 2 touchdowns as a running back.

At the 2010 NFL Scouting Combine, Griffen (who measured at 6'3 3/8", 273-lb) put on a show, running an electronic-timed 4.66 in the 40-yard dash and bench-pressing 225 lbs 32 times. His 40 time was second among defensive lineman, while his 32 reps were tied for sixth-best. Entering his Pro Day workout as one of the most scrutinized prospects in the NFL draft, Griffen lived up to his nickname as "The Freak," posting a 34-inch vertical jump, 9-foot-7 broad jump and 40-yard dash time of 4.59 seconds, though some scouts had his second run as low as 4.46.

Griffen was selected by the Minnesota Vikings with the second pick in the fourth round of the 2010 NFL draft, becoming the 100th player selected overall.

After being inactive for the opening five games of the season, he played in the final 11 games, finishing his rookie year with 11 tackles, all of them solo.

On January 28, 2011, Griffen was arrested in Los Angeles for public intoxication.

Three days later, he was arrested again after he was found driving with an invalid drivers license.

He then tried to flee on foot only to be tased.

In his second season, Griffen played in all 16 games for the Vikings, mostly on special teams as a gunner on punt coverage at times as well as serving as a regular on return units, helping the Vikings special teams unit set a team record with a 26.9 kickoff return average for the season and tied for first in the NFL with four kickoff returns of +50 yards.

His 4 sacks on the year ranked fourth on the team and contributed to the Vikings 50 total sacks on the season, tied for first in the NFL.