Pittsburgh Steelers wide receiver Trey Griffey might have flown under the radar in his NFL career, but his father and grandfather did not in baseball. If you were unaware, he is the son of Ken Griffey Jr and Grandson to Ken Griffey Sr.
“I had a love for football. My dad had a love for baseball. My dad always told me if you have a love for a sport nobody could tell you what to do. He told me from day one, if you love football, go with football. That is what I did.”
Griffey had 79 receptions for 1,241 yards and six touchdowns. That total is not for his final season. Instead, this was for his career. his Arizona career.
While with the Wildcats in college, Griffey started four games as a redshirt freshman. (14-170 two touchdowns.) His sophomore year he only started two games, but his production improved. (31-105 and a touchdown.) Over those two seasons, he had a big impact on special teams with nine tackles. Griffey’s junior year got off to a slow start because of a preseason foot injury that limited his role with the team. (11-284 and one touchdown.) His senior season was his most productive with 23 receptions for 382 yards and a pair of touchdowns. NFL fans know that college success or lack of it does not equate to NFL success but his lack of success in college has spilled over into his professional career too.
After going undrafted in the 2017 NFL draft, Griffey was signed as an undrafted free agent by the Indianapolis Colts. The 6’3”, 209-pound Griffey was waived/injured on June 12. As he cleared waivers, he was placed on injured reserve. Less than a month later, he was waived with an injury settlement from the Colts.
On August 15, he was signed by the Miami Dolphins. He played in the Dolphins final two preseason games but did not appear on the stat sheet in either contest. Unfortunately for Griffey he did not make it past the cutdown date and was waived on September 2.
After spending the rest of 2017 out of the league, Griffey signed a reserve/futures contract on January 29, 2018. While appearing in the preseason, Griffey produced a 4-44 stat line on nine targets. The Steelers waived him on September 1 and signed him to their practice squad the following day.
Pittsburgh resigned Griffey on January 1, 2019, to a reserve/future contract and is battling for a spot on the 53 man roster or on the practice squad. The odds of him making the 53-man roster are long, but the same was said about James Harrison and Donnie Shell. Griffey just needs to continue to showcase the athleticism that his father and grandfather showed in their decades in MLB to stick with the Steelers another season.