The Vikings might need to scrounge up a doctor’s note for Everson Griffen, because his absence from Sunday’s Vikings-Chiefs game has garnered the NFL’s attention.
Griffen was a late scratch just 90 minutes before the game, having apparently been hit hard by a bug the night before the game.
The surprise scratch of one of their best defensive players has apparently raised the brow of the NFL. Pro Football Talk reports the league plans to investigate the Vikings to see if the team was aware of Griffen’s illness prior to submitting the official inactive list at 10:30 a.m. Sunday.
“The NFL requires any team who has a player with an injury or illness that could impact his ability to play after 4:00 p.m. ET on the Friday preceding a Sunday game to announce the injury to the local media (including the Associated Press) and the network televising the game. The information also must be given to the other team’s P.R. director and the NFL.”
The problem could be that head coach Mike Zimmer admitted after Sunday’s 16-10 win over the Chiefs that he found out about Griffen’s status prior to 10:30 a.m., Andrew Krammer
Zimmer said he found out Everson Griffen wasn't playing "around 9:30, 10 o'clock, something like that." #Vikings
— Andrew Krammer (@Andrew_Krammer) October 18, 2015
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Zimmer said he found out Everson Griffen wasn't playing "around 9:30, 10 o'clock, something like that." #Vikings
— Andrew Krammer (@Andrew_Krammer) October 18, 2015
The issue with Everson Griffen is whether the Vikings should have disclosed illness at some point before putting him on the inactive list.
— ProFootballTalk (@ProFootballTalk) October 18, 2015
The NFL did the same type of investigation with the Cleveland Browns a couple of weeks ago after cornerback Joe Haden was a surprise deactivation. The Browns were given 48 hours to provide a written explanation of why Haden’s status changed from “Probable” to “Out,” Cleveland.com reported.
Stay tuned to see what the league that fines players for honoring their deceased parents will do with this situation.
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