Former NFL defensive star Everson Griffen removed from Delta flight after ‘unruly behavior’

Former NFL defensive star Everson Griffen was removed from a Delta flight bound for Minneapolis from Chicago this week after becoming “unruly” during the flight. The four-time Pro Bowler’s behavior forced pilots to ground the flight after a short return to O’Hare just minutes after takeoff, according to TMZ Sports. 

“Delta has zero tolerance for unruly behavior and will always work with law enforcement to that end,” a Delta spokesperson said in a statement. “We apologize to our customers for the delay in their travel as safety and security comes before everything else at Delta.”

Griffen, 37, last played during the 2021 season — a brief, one-year stint with Minnesota after splitting the previous campaign with the Cowboys and Lions. Griffen’s final season was a return to the Vikings after spending the first 10 seasons of his NFL career with the NFC franchise as a former fourth-round pick out of USC in 2010.

Griffen collected 403 tackles and 85.5 sacks over 170 games played. He’s had several run-ins with law enforcement, including a DUI arrest in 2023 and an alleged assault on a police officer after which he was tased in 2011. Griffen was hospitalized for “personal matters” and later released in 2018 with the Vikings following a mental health episode and received treatment again in November 2021 after calling emergency services in a panic, believing his friends were trying to kill him.

At the time, Minnesota placed Griffen on the non-football illness list. The Vikings previously had enacted an emergency plan for Griffen in 2018 following his first mental health situation that spilled onto social media after he posted screenshots of frantic text messages to his agent citing fear for his well-being. 

Officers for the Minneapolis Police Department at the time were called to Griffen’s room at Hotel Ivy, where a police report later indicated the edge rusher was “threatening to shoot someone if he wasn’t allowed in his room.”