CARDINALS TAKE FORDHAM’S EDMONDS

Inspirational Griffin joins brother in Seattle

ARLINGTON, Tex. — Shaquem Griffin came back. The crowd loved it.

Players in attendance not selected in the first two days of the NFL draft usually head out of town before the fourth through seventh rounds.

Griffin, who sat through 100 names being called in the first three rounds, wasn’t in AT&T Stadium on Saturday.

Then he was after Seattle spent the 141st overall selection on the Central Florida linebacker who has no left hand.

That fifth-round choice, announced in Seattle, drew loud cheers from fans at Jerry’s World.

Griffin, whose left hand was amputated when he was young, has become the feel-good story this year and one of the most popular players in this draft because of his perseverance, outgoing personality and, of course, his talent.

“I mean that was amazing,” Griffin said. “To even have an opportunity to come back, I didn’t think I was going to be able to come back and do it ... I don’t remember seeing too many people who have left and came back.

“That was the most amazing experience of my entire life. Me thinking about it, that moment, to be up on that stage and having the crowd go crazy, it was like we had won the Peach Bowl all over again. It was nuts.”

Griffin helped UCF go undefeated last season, then blew through the NFL combine with a 4.38 in the 40, sensational lifting work with his prosthetic, and a can-do attitude. —AP

Chase Edmonds is leaving the Bronx for the desert.

The former Fordham tailback was selected by the Arizona Cardinals in the fourth round of the NFL Draft Saturday afternoon. He became the highest draft choice for a Ram since Steve Filipowicz was taken in the first round in 1943. At 5-foot-8, 210 pounds, Edmonds finished his career on Fordham Rd. with the Rams’s career rushing records, as well as the Patriot League’s, in his hands. He started as a freshman and totaled 5,682 yards, which ranked fifth best in FBS history, despite struggling through an ankle injury as a senior. He missed four games last fall. — Kevin Armstrong