One Hand, One Dream: Shaquem Griffin, the NFL Rookie

**Moderator**

One Hand, One Dream By: Chris Watford for NoLuckNeeded.com

Shaquem Griffin is a modern day feel good story, and for good reason. Griffin was born with amniotic band syndrome which caused the fingers on his left hand to not develop fully. This left Griffin in agonizing pain for the first four years of his life, so much so that he tried to cut off his fingers with a butcher knife at the age of four just to free himself of the pain. His mother walked in on him trying to self-amputate and attempted to comfort him as best she could, massaging his hand and giving him the love that only a mother is capable of giving. The next day, Griffin’s mother scheduled an appointment to have his left hand amputated.

Shaquem didn’t let his disability bring him down, in fact, it only made him stronger. With support from his twin brother, coaches and father, Shaquem wanted to prove all of the naysayers wrong. Griffin said “No one ever told me I couldn’t play; they just said I wouldn’t be able to.” And he followed through on his goals: he proved everyone wrong and did the impossible. Running track, playing baseball and football at the age of five, Griffin was determined to be the best - and a little bit better. In his senior year of high school, Shaquem lodged 67 tackles and two interceptions for Lakewood.

Shaquem and his twin, Shaquill were - and still are - inseparable. Many college coaches told Shaquill to ditch his brother and go to highly prestigious colleges, but Shaquill wasn’t interested in playing without his brother. The Griffin twins eventually settled to attend the University of Central Florida. Shaquem played a full four years at UCF and went undefeated in his senior year and won the National Championship. Shaquill was drafted in his junior year by the Seattle Seahawks.

After his time at UCF, Shaquem garnered interest in multiple NFL teams with his astounding draft workout performances. He benched 20 reps while wearing a prosthesis and ran the 40-yard dash in 4.38 seconds - the fastest time for any NFL linebacker. People were starting to realize that Shaquem wasn’t just a fluke or a feel-good story: he’s the real deal. With his incredible performance there was one team in particular that Shaquem had his eyes on: the Seahawks. Shaquem’s dreams came true on April 28, 2018, when he was drafted by the Seattle Seahawks to play alongside his twin brother. Griffin made his preseason debut this year against the Indianapolis Colts where he racked up six solo tackles and three assisted tackles. The one-handed rookie is going to be making his first NFL start in week 1 of the 2018 NFL season.

**Moderator**

The rookie also got a Nike deal! Here's an ad:

Posted:24.09.2021, 01:30

Have there been any players with a similar story?

**Moderator**

hansfredrichseidel, As far as I know Mr. Griffin is the only one handed person in the NFL. Some others probably have disabilities, though.