Sam’s Film Room: Would Shaquem Griffin fit in the Seahawks’ defense?

In this scouting report, I wanted to look at Shaquem Griffin, linebacker out of Central Florida. For those that somehow missed it, Griffin is the twin brother of Shaquill Griffin with one hand. Last April, the Seattle Seahawks drafted Shaquill in the third round and, in my opinion, Shaquem would make for a very interesting Day 3 pick for the Seahawks.

As a prospect, Shaquem has the speed and effort to make plays. He is really good at chasing running backs and wide receivers across the field. He doesn’t have the best awareness, though, and he sometimes struggles in zone coverage. Also, he will need to switch positions in the pros as he’s not physically big enough to play as an edge defender in the NFL. Based on my film study, I gave him a 4th to 5th round grade in this draft.

For his pro comparison, I think Griffin is most similar to Deion Jones from the Atlanta Falcons. Both of these players were high-effort, team-first prospects who are roughly the same size. Jones plays a semi-hybrid role in Atlanta and was a better prospect coming out of college. I believe that if Griffin improves his game, his ceiling is roughly the same level as Jones but he still has a lot of work to do before he gets there.

How this might affect the Seattle Seahawks

I feel like Shaquem could be a great developmental linebacker behind K.J. Wright and Bobby Wagner. He could also provide speed to the ‘Hawks special team unit. Based on his skill-set and if Seattle doesn’t like him, I think he could play for pretty much every defense in the NFL. The Washington Redskins need an inside linebacker if they don’t re-sign Zach Brown, so he could sit behind Mason Foster to learn the position and eventually take over.

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