The Seattle Seahawks selected Central Florida linebacker Shaquem Griffin in the fifth round with the No. 141 overall pick of the 2018 NFL Draft on Saturday.
Griffin had his left hand amputated at four years old due to complications from amniotic band syndrome, a condition that caused his hand not to fully develop.
Griffin will reunited with his twin brother, cornerback Shaquill Griffin, who plays for Seattle. The twins played together at UCF and the Seahawks drafted Shaquill Griffin in 2017.
After receiving a late invitation to the scouting combine, Griffin ran a 4.38 40-yard dash, the fastest time for a linebacker since such records have been kept.
Griffin recorded 18.5 sacks in his last two years with UCF. He had 195 tackles, 16 pass deflections, four forced fumbles, five fumble recoveries and three interceptions in his collegiate career.
“They’ll know who Shaq Griffin is. They’ll know who both of us is. I promise you that,” the new Seahawk said in an interview with ESPN.
Seahawks coach Pete Carroll made a game of leaving “draft clues” in tweets on his personal Twitter account during the week. By punctuating most of his hashtags with two exclamation points, he may have been signaling that the team would reunite the Griffin twins.
• Adam Zielonka can be reached at azielonka@washingtontimes.com.
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