Shaquem Griffin did his first pull-up only three years ago when he was a freshman in college. His mother was so overcome that she cried. This weekend, Mr. Griffin made a huge leap toward another, more historic first: becoming the first player with only one hand to be drafted by the National Football League.

Griffin was in some ways the biggest story of the NFL’s scouting combine ahead of next month’s draft. Over and over again, his drills spoke for him. He ran the fastest 40-yard time of any linebacker at the combine since 2003. He made interceptions in coverage drills. And with a prosthetic similar to the one he used to do his first pull-up, he bench-pressed 225 pounds 20 times. “I almost choked up,” said one analyst who watched it.

Griffin’s twin brother, Shaquill, who is already in the NFL, says he hopes opposing coaches try to take advantage of the fact that his brother is one-handed. “It will give him more times to prove them wrong. He loves that,” he told the Los Angeles Times. “The one hand makes him better.”

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