Seahawks News: Shaquem Griffin Re-Signed on Practice Squad Contract

The Seattle Seahawks re-signed linebacker Shaquem Griffin to their practice squad Sunday, which comes one day after the team released him.

Griffin went unclaimed on waivers, setting up a return to the team.

Griffin, 25, appeared in all 16 games for the Seahawks in 2019, posting five tackles and three quarterback hits. The linebacker, who is one of the best stories in the NFL after making the league with an amputated left hand, has been a solid special-teams player for Seattle in his two NFL seasons.

His brother, starting cornerback Shaquill Griffin, also plays for the Seahawks.

Shaquem was given an expanded role in 2019 as Seattle starting experimenting with him as an edge-rusher.

"He's active. He's on the move," head coach Pete Carroll said of the role switch in December, per ESPN's Brady Henderson. "... He's going to get better. It's like a batting average for him. He's got a lot of bad swings out there but he's going to have some shots that I think are going to be impacting here. We need it right this week, and we'll need it next week, and ongoing. I like him being out there, though."

Griffin, who played a similar role in college, said at the time that he was adjusting to the nuances of the position at the NFL level:

"When I was in college, all I did was just run fast, make a few moves, spin off a lot of guys and make sacks. I think now I've got great coaches to kind of teach me the form of everything, knowing how to use my hands, knowing what to look at, knowing how to press the issue on different O-linemen, knowing how to take advantage of their weaknesses.

"So it's like more in depth on what I need to do. Now I have a rush plan. After learning from them, it gave me confidence. In college, it was just me going full speed all the time, running all over the place, being a maniac and just making plays. But now it's like, I can be a maniac and make plays and do it the right way."

Griffin will open the 2020 season on the practice squad, so his on-field reps this season could be sparse. But Seattle clearly didn't want to cut ties with him entirely.