Watching Rashid Shaheed playing against Jacksonville, I hardly recognized him. With Kellen Moore running that offense, it looks like Shaheed will be used differently.
Thus far as a pro, Shaheed has been primarily a deep threat. He’s fast, and he’s been able to hit on big plays. He’s averaged 16.6 yards per catch in his first three seasons. Since he entered the league, only two players have caught more passes and averaged more yards per catch (Christian Watson and Alec Pierce).
So surprising to me when in his first preseason game, Shaheed ran only short routes, with his 3 catches going for 15 yards, with a long of 6. They had him lined up in the slot for one of those, which is not something I’ve seen him do before. There was no attempt to get him downfield.
Twenty times in Shaheed’s career, he’s caught at least 3 passes in games. He’s had a reception of at least 12 yards in all of those games. In 60 percent of those games, he’s had a reception of at least 30 yards – that’s what he does.
| RASHID SHAHEED WITH 3-PLUS CATCHES | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Opp | Result | Tgt | No | Yds | Avg | Lg | TD |
| 2022 | L.V. | W, 24-0 | 3 | 3 | 38 | 12.7 | 30 | 0 |
| 2022 | at T.B. | L, 16-17 | 4 | 4 | 75 | 18.8 | 40 | 0 |
| 2022 | Atl. | W, 21-18 | 4 | 3 | 95 | 31.7 | 68t | 1 |
| 2022 | at Cle. | W, 17-10 | 5 | 4 | 41 | 10.3 | 16 | 0 |
| 2022 | at Phil. | W, 20-10 | 6 | 6 | 79 | 13.2 | 58 | 0 |
| 2022 | Car. | L, 7-10 | 4 | 3 | 34 | 11.3 | 18 | 0 |
| 2023 | Ten. | W, 16-15 | 6 | 5 | 89 | 17.8 | 41 | 1 |
| 2023 | at Car. | W, 20-17 | 4 | 4 | 63 | 15.8 | 45 | 0 |
| 2023 | T.B. | L, 9-26 | 7 | 3 | 33 | 11.0 | 12 | 0 |
| 2023 | Jac. | L, 24-31 | 8 | 4 | 28 | 7.0 | 12 | 0 |
| 2023 | at Ind. | W, 38-27 | 3 | 3 | 153 | 51.0 | 58t | 1 |
| 2023 | Chi. | W, 24-17 | 3 | 3 | 22 | 7.3 | 12 | 0 |
| 2023 | at Min. | L, 19-27 | 9 | 5 | 24 | 4.8 | 15 | 0 |
| 2023 | NYG | W, 24-6 | 4 | 3 | 36 | 12.0 | 19 | 0 |
| 2023 | at LAR | L, 22-30 | 9 | 5 | 70 | 14.0 | 45t | 1 |
| 2024 | Atl. | W, 48-17 | 4 | 3 | 65 | 21.7 | 39t | 1 |
| 2024 | Car. | W, 47-10 | 5 | 3 | 73 | 24.3 | 59t | 1 |
| 2024 | at Dall. | W, 44-19 | 4 | 4 | 96 | 24.0 | 70t | 1 |
| 2024 | at Atl. | L, 24-26 | 11 | 8 | 83 | 10.4 | 25 | 0 |
| 2024 | at K.C. | L, 13-26 | 9 | 4 | 86 | 21.5 | 43t | 1 |
| 2025 | Jac. | T, 17-17 | 3 | 3 | 15 | 5.0 | 6 | 0 |
This is just a brief glimpse, of course, but it suggests Shaheed will be more than just a one-trick pony deep threat. They may be more willing to look to him in other situations, including the red zone. He hasn’t been a factor there previously.
Shaheed (and this is hard to believe) in three years has never caught a pass when the Saints have been within 10 yards of the goal line. He’s caught only 4 red-zone passes. I would think those numbers will be going up, and his workload will be going up.
At the same time, the Saints are looking pretty meager as a team, especially offensively. That puts a pretty hard ceiling on Shaheed’s numbers. But makes sense as a later-round depth guy at receiver.
—Ian Allan