Frankly I don't see why Miami wouldn't target Shaquem Griffin as high as the 2nd round.
They need a speed linebacker in the worst way. Unless they're willing to commit to Roquan Smith, Tremaine Edmunds, or Lorenzo Carter at #11 overall, the only speed linebackers they're going to have to choose from will be Jerome Baker, Malik Jefferson, Leon Jacobs, and Shaquem Griffin.
I think Shaquem Griffin dusts all of those guys on tape. When does the NFL ever let a guy with his dimensions (6'0" to 6'1" and roughly 230 lbs), with his speed (4.38), and his insane productivity...just slide through to the 3rd day?
Griffin rushed the passer 100 times on the left and 130 times on the right, and he pressured the passer at exactly the same rate from each side. His lack of a left hand didn't affect that. It also didn't cause him to rack up missed tackles. And he's got as many career interceptions (2) as Denzel Ward.
The biggest impediment is that his dimensions and college role don't match one another when you take him from college to the NFL level, and thus his value assessment will involve a lot of projection. But that's not anything that has stopped the NFL before. It's not as if he was a 100% pass rusher. He dropped back into coverage on nearly 50% of passing downs. Shedding blockers is shedding blockers, pass or run. He's physical as **** all. He's agile, fast, smart, and a play maker.
Not much real difference between he and Myles Jack; guess Jack had an extra hand, but also a bum knee.
The question is what exactly is the missing hand worth. Answer? Surprisingly not much. If you had a pro bowl linebacker and he broke his thumb and needed to wear a club, would you put in his backup, even if you felt the backup was a starter quality player? Answer is no. No team would do that. They keep the pro bowler in because the loss of one hand doesn't damage his on-field value enough to justify benching him for the backup. And yet that pro bowler would be used to two hands, and would feel the loss of his hand a hell of a lot more than a guy that has been without his hand since he was 4 years old.
So what really matters with Shaquem Griffin is not the one hand. It's whether you think he's a great player or not. If you think he's a great player with two hands, then you logically believe he's still a great player with only one.
I think Miami would have a lot of fun with Shaquem Griffin, blitzing him, dropping him, using his speed to keep a lid on running backs and mobile quarterbacks, etc. His speed would make an immediate impact on what was (and this is not hyperbole but a very literal truth) the slowest defense in the NFL last year.
