Shaquem Griffin is drafted in the fifth round by the Seahawks. Seattle got the one player they had to have, and I don’t care if they draft blocking sleds the rest of the day.
The Seahawks just picked up the fastest linebacker in the history of the NFL Combine. They selected a player who was his conference’s defensive player of the year as a junior. He was a key player in leading his team to an undefeated season as a senior. Shaquem Griffin sounds pretty good for a fifth round pick, right?
You need stats? He only missed ten tackles last year in over 900 snaps, and missed just 26 in nearly 1,700 over his career. He generated more quarterback pressures in his career than last year’s number one overall pick, Myles Garrett. I think it’s safe to say that Shaquem Griffin can ball.
In fact, he’s so good many 12s were worried he wouldn’t last until day three. The Seahawks have faced a lot of questions about this draft. Those questions haven’t been about the players they took, but when they took them. They drafted Rashaad Penny in the first round. He only ran for 2,248 yards last year, but most pundits (including us) thought he’d be there in the second.
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Seattle had me worried, but they came through
On day two they snagged Rasheem Green, a 20 year old version of Michael Bennett. Again, there was a lot of talk about how he’s a reach in the second round. I just questioned the selection of Will Dissly in the fourth round myself. Mainly because I was afraid someone else was going to snap up Griffin in the fourth.
I like all these players, but the timing really had a lot of 12s second-guessing Carroll and Schneider. Everyone was worried that someone else would take Shaquem before the Seahawks. Surely we’ve all seen how the Seahawks have been able to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. And here we were again.
Thankfully, that didn’t happen. This story took a bit longer to write, because I was literally crying when the pick was announced. Sue me, I’m a softy. What matters is Shaquem Griffin is a great player and a great story. Best of all, he is finally home where he belongs.