Seahawks Shaquill Griffin is his own toughest critic

Many sportswriters considered Shaquill Griffin’s second Seahawks season to be disappointing. No one is a tougher critic than Griffin himself.

Shaquill Griffin came under fire for not being Richard Sherman in his sophomore season with the Seahawks. That’s obviously a pretty high standard. That comparison is understandable, though. Both had good rookie seasons, but the comparison fell apart in year two. No one has been more disappointed in that result than Griffin himself.

Griffin looked good as a rookie. In 11 starts he broke up 15 passes, had an interception and a sack, and 58 combined tackles. Sherman had 10 starts as a rookie. He had four interceptions, 17 pass defenses, and 55 combined tackles. The four picks are clearly better, but overall, their seasons were quite comparable. There was ample reason to see Griffin as the heir apparent.

In year two, the separation between the two was glaring. Griffin had just 2 interceptions and broke up 8 passes. Sherman had 8 picks and led the NFL with 24 pass defenses. Sherman forced three fumbles and recovered one for good measure. Compared to that performance, Griffin did have a bad year. The critics were right, up to a point. You know, not everyone is going to be on their way to a Hall of Fame career by year two.

Griffin’s critics were nowhere near as hard on Shaquill Griffin as he’s been on himself. He was on 710 ESPN a few days ago with Bob, Groz and Tom. As reported by Stacy Rost for my.northwest.com, Griffin felt he had the wrong priorities last year. His goals were all about interceptions and pass breakups. Coming into this season, he sees things very differently:

"“This year when it comes to setting goals, it’s just not about the specific stats that I want,” Griffin explained. “It’s, first off, just becoming a better teammate, a better player, and just correcting myself more as a person, as a man. And helping this team win ball games no matter what it is or what they need me to do. If I can help us win ballgames and play my part, everything else — the accolades and the stats — will come along with it. That’s just the maturity level growing and being more of a vet and going on through this league, the years I’ve been playing, it’s starting to finally click for me.”"

More from Seattle Seahawks News

• 4 prospects Seahawks could reach for at No. 20 in 2023 NFL Draft
• Seattle Seahawks Mock Draft: Post-first wave of free agency 
• Seahawks podcast: A review of the first week of free agency
• 4 experiments the Seattle Seahawks could cut short in 2023
• 3 pros and cons of Seattle Seahawks drafting Anthony Richardson

Clearly, he has very different goals for 2019. If he gets the picks, good, but it’s all about a Seahawks win for Griffin. I’m pretty certain winning has always been his priority. The difference here is that it’s about the team results first, then individual results. As for Griffin’s performance last year, he was a pretty harsh judge:

"“If I’m critiquing myself the hardest I can, (2018) was a D, a D-plus for me,” Griffin said. “They wanted me to be the next person up… and I feel like it was just average, and I can’t be that average guy on this team. Being at that number one cornerback position, they need me to make those splash plays and count on me when it counts the most, and that’s the part I need to hold myself (accountable) about because that’s the person I have to be. The best thing about that is I can only go up from here. I’m taking it upon myself to make this a great year.”"

Griffin clearly is taking a different approach to this season. The Seahawks saw tremendous growth from Richard Sherman’s first year to his second. It seems reasonable that Griffin may make a similar leap forward between his second and third seasons. If he doesn’t, no one will be a harsher critic than number 26.