Shaquem Griffin has lived most of his 27 years on this earth with only one hand. That didn’t stop him from playing professional football long enough to collect a pension from the NFL.
Griffin, a 6-foot, 227-pound linebacker, was born with amniotic band syndrome, which left the fingers on his left hand painfully underdeveloped. Though he had the hand amputated at age four, he still became a college football star at the University of Central Florida
In Orlando, he racked up 18.5 sacks and 33.5 tackles for loss in his final two seasons after cracking the starting lineup. That led him to Seattle; the Seahawks selected him in the fifth round of the 2018 NFL Draft one year after drafting Shaquem’s brother (and Pro Bowl cornerback) Shaquill in the third.
Griffin went on to play 46 games as a Seahawk between 2018 and 2020. He spent time on the Miami Dolphins’ practice squad in 2021. He won’t be back for the 2022 campaign.
Calling professional football his “Plan B,” and citing a loss of passion for the game when he’s not playing alongside his brother, Griffin announced his retirement with a post on The Player’s Tribune.
Thank you to the people who helped me achieve this dream, but it’s time to move on from the game of football. @PlayersTribune https://t.co/dzPWRCvpZl
— shaquem griffin (@Shaquemgriffin) August 24, 2022
So keep ballin’ out. Keep living that dream. We’ve been told countless times, and it’s still humbling every time I hear it, that there should be a movie about our journey together, and what we’ve been through, together, always inseparable. Maybe that day will come sooner than later. But until then, I’m gonna go build something new so I can do what Dad always told us to do: leave the world a better place than when we found it.
On to Plan A. — Shaquem Griffin
Griffin didn’t have a major role in the Seahawks’ defense but played roughly half Seattle’s special teams snaps in 2018 and 2019. He recorded his lone NFL sack in 2020.
His numbers hardly tell his story. Griffin couldn’t be stopped by the disability that changed his life as a child. He put in the work to not only live his dream, but live it alongside the brother he loves. Now he gets to spin that work ethic into his role in the NFL Legends Community, where he’ll have the chance to, in his own words, “improve people’s lives and make a real positive impact.”
That sounds awesome. Given the way his life has unfolded so far, it’d be dumb to bet against Shaquem Griffin at this point.
