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Re-signed Viking Everson Griffen plans to apologize 'man-to-man' for declaring 'Kirk Cousins is ass'

Everson Griffen has some fences to mend.

The longtime Minnesota Vikings defensive end took a hiatus from the North Star State in 2020 with a brief two-team stint playing for the Dallas Cowboys and Detroit Lions. Now he's back with the Vikings, having re-signed Monday with the team he played with previously for 10 seasons.

He regrets a few things he said while he was gone. Or things that he tweeted, rather.

And for that, he intends to apologize. He told The Twin Cities Pioneer Press on Monday that he's planning to talk "man-to-man" to quarterback Kirk Cousins for some mean tweets he published in January. He said he's already apologized to head coach Mike Zimmer and general manager Rick Spielman.

“I take full ownership in that,” Griffen said. “I’ve still got to talk to Kirk and apologize to him about that. ... I’m just going to talk to Kirk and apologize to him and have a man-to-man conversation.”

Why is Griffen feeling apologetic?

So what exactly does Griffen feel the need to apologize for? It's probably the tweet where he declared that "Kirk Cousins is ass." And maybe the one where he suggested that Zimmer never wanted to coach Cousins to begin with. But probably mostly the "ass" tweet.

DETROIT, MI - OCTOBER 20:  Minnesota Vikings defensive end Everson Griffen (97) looks on during regular season game action between the Minnesota Vikings and the Detroit Lions on October 20, 2019 at Ford Field in Detroit, Michigan.  (Photo by Scott W. Grau/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
Everson Griffen has some fences to mend.(Scott W. Grau/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)

Odd timing of Griffen's tweet

Griffen launched those tweets in the middle of his own personal campaign to rejoin the Vikings as a free agent. So to say that the timing of his disparaging take was odd is an understatement. He quickly made the obvious realization himself and deleted the tweet. But he owned it, and issued a social media mea culpa to the franchise. That tweet still stands:

Now comes the hard part. Apologizing directly to the man he called "ass." Good on Griffen for his effort to make things right.

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