Shaquem sleepless in Seattle after draft
THE path Shaquem Griffin travelled to become a Seattle Seahawk means his career will always be viewed just a little bit differently.
But as his gridiron career entered a new phase yesterday, Griffin hoped to become just one of the guys.
‘‘I was ready to get back to football,’’ Griffin said after the first day of the Seahawks’ rookie mini-camp in Renton, Washington.
So ready, that during a morning walk-through head coach Pete Carroll had to call him aside to tell him to tone things down just a bit.
‘‘Keem looked very aggressive,’’ Carroll said. ‘‘He was trying to run through it. We had to slow him down some, he was going too hard. We had to chill him out a little bit. But he’s very, very excited about being here.’’
Excited to begin his NFL career but also, he said, get life back to normal as much as it possibly can.
Griffin’s story of perseverance – overcoming the amputation of his left hand when he was four – made him one of the most-talked about players heading into the NFL draft.
When he was selected on the final day to join his twin brother Shaquill with the Seahawks, the family hug and tears they shared served as an image that will live on as long as the NFL draft is held.
‘‘A whirlwind,’’ Shaquem Griffin called it.
But Griffin understands as well as anybody that it’s football that is ultimately the reason for the attention.
‘‘The only thing you really are here for is to play football,’’ he said. ‘‘So when you’ve got the chance to go to the draft and that part is over with, and you get signed to a team and you are ready to go, now it’s back to everything you have ever been doing to get to this point, and that’s play football.’’
Just to make sure, though, Carroll told Griffin ‘‘stay humble’’ after his selection. That’s a trait that Carroll hopes to reinforce with the Seahawks this season – a team that have little to crow about at the moment after missing the playoffs in 2017 for the first time in six years.
Not that Carroll has ever sensed Griffin has lacked that trait.
‘‘How does anybody really handle what just happened as far as the following and all that?’’ Carroll asked. ‘‘I don’t know. But he’s done a good job and his family has done well by him, and his brother has been advantageous to him, also. So he’s going to be good. He’s going to be fine.’’
Evidence of that came this week when Griffin turned down a myriad of national media requests – for now, basically doing only what the league and NFL requires – to get back to the main task.
‘‘It’s extremely important for that turn to occur,’’ Carroll said. ‘‘It’s been a great story and it will always be a great story. But right now he’s got work to do.’’
Griffin spent yesterday’s practice working where the team said he would – weakside linebacker.
That’s the position manned by K J Wright, a mainstay of the Seahawks since 2011, but a spot where Seattle have also had little depth for years. No-one expects Griffin to beat out Wright anytime soon. But Wright also has just one year remaining on his contract and Griffin could also show enough for the team to figure out ways to get him on the field in sub-packages.
Griffin played more on the outside at Central Florida, but said he’s fine with the Seahawks moving him inside.
‘‘I feel pretty comfortable there,’’ said Griffin, who is listed at 227 pounds, but said he has put on a little bit more in preparation for the move to the NFL. ‘‘When I was at UCF I played a lot of different positions so I don’t feel uncomfortable moving around. I feel like where they put me at right now is a pretty good fit and it doesn’t matter where I play as long as I can have an opportunity to help my team in any aspect. I will play anything.’’ The Seattle Times GETTY IMAGES
He will also be expected to contribute on special teams.
Asked which special teams he was on at Central Florida, Griffin said ‘‘every single one’’.
If Griffin is hoping the attention dies down, there will still be one more heart-tugging moment to come – when he takes the field again with his brother.
This weekend camp is devoted solely to rookies and a few veterans with little experience.
That means a between-thehashmarks reunion with his brother will have to wait a little while longer.
Not that it wasn’t still just a little bit of a family affair.
As Griffin ended his news conference, a female voice called out ‘‘Thank You Keem’’.
Replied Griffin: ‘‘You’re welcome mother’’. Tangie Griffin had been filming his answers, on a day the Seahawks hoped to begin bringing some normalcy to a remarkable story.