EDEN PRAIRIE, Minn. — Friday was a quiet day around the Minnesota Vikings’ Winter Park complex. No satellite trucks encamped near the wooden viking ship. Only eight reporters attended Coach Mike Zimmer’s daily briefing, far fewer than the horde tracking the Adrian Peterson story.

Peterson’s workout gear remains in his locker, unused since the Vikings, under pressure from sponsors and fans, placed him on the commissioner’s exempt list in September after he was charged with injuring his 4-year-old son with a switch. Wideout Jerome Simpson is long gone, released when news of a marijuana-possession arrest surfaced. At the time, Simpson was finishing a three-game suspension for violating the N.F.L.’s substance abuse policy.

On the field, things have been equally turbulent. The Vikings replaced the low-key coach Leslie Frazier with the fiery Zimmer last January. Quarterback Matt Cassel broke his left foot in Week 3, ending his season, and the Vikings went through three starters in three weeks. Two offensive linemen are done for the year. And left tackle Matt Kalil, a Pro Bowl selection as a rookie, continues to underperform.

Amid all this, Everson Griffen emerged as an able pass-rushing successor to Jared Allen, the five-time Pro Bowl player who left the Vikings for Chicago as a free agent after last season. Griffen, who plays right defensive end, has seemingly overcome his own troubled past, including two arrests in a three-day period after his rookie year, to amass 11 sacks, seventh best in the N.F.L. Two came in last week’s 31-13 rout of Carolina. He also returned a blocked punt 43 yards for a touchdown, a club record.