When they take on the Arizona Cardinals on Sunday, the Minnesota Vikings will be without defensive end Everson Griffen due to a concussion.
After he was a full participant in practice on Wednesday, Minnesota Vikings defensive end Everson Griffen popped up on the team’s injury report on Thursday with a concussion.
A player suffering a concussion in practice isn’t something that isn’t very common in the NFL, so it was definitely odd to see that be the reason why Griffen sat out on Thursday.
However, Vikings head coach Mike Zimmer revealed on Friday that the veteran defensive end didn’t sustain his concussion in the team’s practice on Wednesday. Instead, the injury was a result of Griffen getting into a car accident on Thursday.
Minnesota Vikings to be without Everson Griffen and Anthony Barr in Week 2
During his Friday press conference, Zimmer was asked if Griffen’s injury was sustained off the practice field. The Minnesota head coach said yes and that the defensive end suffered a concussion after getting into an accident after swerving on the road to miss a deer on Thursday.
So when they take on the Arizona Cardinals on Sunday in a big NFC matchup, the Vikings will not have Griffen out on the field to help make life difficult for Cardinals quarterback Kyler Murray.
In addition to Griffen being out this weekend in Arizona, Minnesota will also be without linebacker Anthony Barr, cornerback Harrison Hand, and offensive tackle Christian Darrisaw. Vikings linebacker Eric Kendricks is listed as questionable for Sunday as he deals with a quad injury (or a tweak as Zimmer referred to it on Friday with a smirk).
Hopefully, Griffen is doing well and he can get back to making life miserable for opposing quarterbacks sooner than later.