Shaquem Griffin announces NFL retirement after 4 seasons
Former Seattle Seahawks and Miami Dolphins linebacker Shaquem Griffin retired from the NFL after four seasons, he announced in a Players' Tribune article Wednesday.
"The time has come for me to retire from professional football," he wrote. "It’s time for me to execute my Plan A."
For Griffin, "Plan A" is using his college education to "do something that would make a positive impact in the world." He wrote that after a long conversation with NFL commissioner Roger Goodell, Griffin would join the NFL Legends Community to help mentor current and former players on a variety of topics, including helping support and serve underprivileged communities throughout the country.
"We started talking about what’s happening on the streets in Chicago and how those communities are suffering. Guys started throwing out ideas on how we could help. How we could maybe improve people’s lives and make a real positive impact," Griffin wrote. "And I was thinking, These are the kinds of conversations I want to be a part of."
Griffin was drafted in the fifth round by the Seahawks in 2018 out of UCF, but he was most known for being the only player to ever be drafted with just one hand. Griffin's left hand was amputated when he was 4 years old after he was born with amniotic band syndrome, which caused his left hand to not fully develop.
He played alongside his twin brother, Shaquill, who was drafted the year before by the Seahawks, for three years. During his time in Seattle, Griffin wracked up 25 combined tackles and one sack from 2018-2020 in Seattle. He signed with the Dolphins in 2021 but was eventually released in October after spending time on the practice squad.
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While Griffin wrote that he tried out for a couple of NFL teams over the past year in search of a new destination, he felt something was "missing" because he wasn't playing with his brother anymore, who had signed with the Jacksonville Jaguars in 2021.
"All this traveling around, working out for teams, trying to catch on somewhere, trying to hang on — it wasn’t what I wanted," Griffin wrote. "Football had already given me so much, and the only thing I still really wanted from the game was to play with my brother again.
"So I told my agent, Buddy Baker, thank you for grinding and bringing me these opportunities. But unless it’s Jacksonville, I’m good."
There were a lot of questions about if Griffin could even make the NFL after he originally wasn't invited to the scouting combine, but Griffin proved he deserved a spot in the league with an incredible performance in 2018 that ended with his name being called during the draft.
"If you’re reading this, you probably already know my story. The one-handed linebacker with the twin brother. The guy a lot of people thought couldn’t play in college and said would never make it to the NFL because nobody with only one hand had ever done that before.
"I made it anyway.
"I persevered."
