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Rodgers on Everson Griffen: ‘We All Need Someone’

Aaron Rodgers speaks about the importance of mental health and having someone to talk to in the wake of the incident with Everson Griffen.
Bill Huber|
Rodgers on Everson Griffen: ‘We All Need Someone’
Rodgers on Everson Griffen: ‘We All Need Someone’

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Green Bay PackersMinnesota Vikings

GREEN BAY, Wis. – An incident involving Minnesota Vikings defensive end Everson Griffen ended peacefully on Wednesday.

Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers, who has played against and respected Griffen for years and has spoken eloquently about mental health the past couple years, said it’s vital to have someone to talk to

“I’ve played against Everson for a long time,” Rodgers said. “I enjoy competing against him. A lot of respect for him as a player. You never know exactly what’s going on away from the field. Just a lot of love for all the different mental issues that people are dealing with. As we’ve seen the last couple of years with COVID, there’s been obviously a lot more time in sedentary and people not moving around and strains on personal life and relationships, mental health have definitely gone up.

“The key is having people around you can talk to and talking to professionals. There was a stigma for a long time about therapy in general, and I’m thankful to have a great therapist to talk to. I think we all need someone, an outlet who can help us, whether we have a diagnosis of mental issues or not.”

Griffen, a 33-year-old defensive end for the Vikings with a history of mental health struggles, made several concerning posts on Instagram in the early hours of Wednesday morning, saying people were trying to kill him. He recorded a video of himself holding a gun and posted screenshots of texts to his agent, Brian Murphy, in which he told Murphy to call 911.

Griffen called 911 shortly after 3 a.m. and said there was an intruder in his house. He refused to come out of the house when law enforcement and Vikings team psychologists arrived. Finally, Griffen agreed to lave the house. Police did not find an entruder.

"I'm in my house. N----- trying to pop me," Griffen said in the video. "I've still got clips left. This is my gun, .45 Wilson Combat, registered to me. I bought all my bullets around town. Dalvin Cook helped me purchase this gun. It all belongs to me, and they are registered to me. I know exactly where I bought them. I've got the card I have them on. I have everything."

Ultimately, Griffen agreed to leave his home without incident on Wednesday afternoon and was taken by ambulance to a health-care facility.

“I think it’s important that we continue the conversation and get the word out that those are normal, to have conversations with professionals,” Rodgers said. “It’s important that we check on our teammates all the time and our loved ones to make sure they’re in the right head space. My heart goes out to Everson for sure. I hope he’s got some great people around him who can help him.”

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Bill Huber
BILL HUBER

Bill Huber, who has covered the Green Bay Packers since 2008, is the publisher of Packers On SI, a Sports Illustrated channel. E-mail: packwriter2002@yahoo.com History: Huber took over Packer Central in August 2019. Twitter: https://twitter.com/BillHuberNFL Background: Huber graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, where he played on the football team, in 1995. He worked in newspapers in Reedsburg, Wisconsin Dells and Shawano before working at The Green Bay News-Chronicle and Green Bay Press-Gazette from 1998 through 2008. With The News-Chronicle, he won several awards for his commentaries and page design. In 2008, he took over as editor of Packer Report Magazine, which was founded by Hall of Fame linebacker Ray Nitschke, and PackerReport.com. In 2019, he took over the new Sports Illustrated site Packer Central, which he has grown into one of the largest sites in the Sports Illustrated Media Group.

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