Everson Griffen (born December 22, 1987) is an American football defensive end who is a free agent. A graduate of Agua Fria High School, Griffen attended and played college football at USC. 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.
Early years
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. 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. 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 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.
Recruiting
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. 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.
College career
Freshman season (2007)
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. 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. 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.
Sophomore season (2008)
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.