Rashid Shaheed is making himself some money. He’s going to be an unrestricted free agent in March, and there will be teams that are interested in his services.
Not that Shaheed is a No. 1 receiver, but he can do a lot of things well. He’s probably the league’s most feared kick returner right now. In 10 games with the Seahawks, Shaheed has scored on a punt return and 2 kickoff returns. He scored 7 TDs on kickoff returns at Weber State.
Shaheed has the wheels to get deep. In his three and half seasons with the Saints, he caught 8 touchdowns from 40-plus yards. In his first three seasons there, he averaged 16.6 yards per catch. During those three seasons, only two wide receivers caught more passes while averaging more yards per reception: Alec Pierce and Christian Watson.
| RECEIVERS, YARDS PER CATCH (2022-24) | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Player | Tgt | No | Yards | Avg | TD |
| Alec Pierce, Ind. | 212 | 110 | 1,931 | 17.6 | 11 |
| Christian Watson, G.B. | 172 | 98 | 1,653 | 16.9 | 14 |
| Rashid Shaheed, N.O. | 150 | 94 | 1,556 | 16.6 | 10 |
| George Pickens, Pitt. | 293 | 174 | 2,841 | 16.3 | 12 |
| Gabe Davis, Buf.-Jac. | 216 | 113 | 1,821 | 16.1 | 16 |
| A.J. Brown, Phi. | 400 | 261 | 4,031 | 15.4 | 25 |
| Brandon Aiyuk, S.F. | 266 | 178 | 2,731 | 15.3 | 15 |
| Darius Slayton, NYG | 221 | 135 | 2,067 | 15.3 | 8 |
| Rashod Bateman, Bal. | 156 | 92 | 1,408 | 15.3 | 12 |
| Amari Cooper, Buff.-Cle. | 345 | 194 | 2,957 | 15.2 | 18 |
| Jaylen Waddle, Mia. | 304 | 205 | 3,114 | 15.2 | 14 |
| Nico Collins, Hou. | 274 | 185 | 2,784 | 15.0 | 17 |
Shaheed has not been used much on shorter routes, but there’s some untapped potential there. When Kellen Moore took over in New Orleans, he used Shaheed more extensively (44 catches in nine games) on shorter routes.
Shaheed has also been useful on end-arounds. He had a 30-yard run on Saturday, and he flipped the earlier Rams game by following up his 58-yard punt return with a 31-yard run on the next play, helping to erase a 30-14 deficit. In 10 games with Seattle, he’s had 3 other runs that have gone for 9-10 yards.
Since entering the league, Shaheed has averaged 7.4 yards on running plays. That’s No. 3 among wide receivers with at least 20 carries.
| WIDE RECEIVERS, YARDS PER CARRY (2022-) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Player | Att | Yds | Avg | TD |
| Jayden Reed, G.B. | 34 | 310 | 9.1 | 3 |
| Velus Jones, Car-Chi. | 20 | 165 | 8.3 | 1 |
| Rashid Shaheed, N.O.-Sea. | 26 | 192 | 7.4 | 1 |
| Puka Nacua, LAR | 33 | 240 | 7.3 | 2 |
| Jameson Williams, Det. | 21 | 142 | 6.8 | 2 |
| KaVontae Turpin, Dall. | 47 | 308 | 6.6 | 1 |
| Zay Flowers, Balt. | 27 | 174 | 6.4 | 2 |
| Xavier Worthy, K.C. | 31 | 191 | 6.2 | 3 |
| Malik Washington, Mia. | 22 | 135 | 6.1 | 2 |
| CeeDee Lamb, Dall. | 39 | 232 | 5.9 | 2 |
| Tre Tucker, L.V. | 30 | 172 | 5.7 | 1 |
| Laviska Shenault, 3 tms | 22 | 121 | 5.5 | 1 |
| Kadarius Toney, 3 tms | 20 | 109 | 5.5 | 1 |
| DJ Moore, Car.-Chi. | 43 | 228 | 5.3 | 2 |
| Derius Davis, LAC | 28 | 145 | 5.2 | 0 |
| Devin Duvernay, 3 tms | 20 | 102 | 5.1 | 1 |
| Rondale Moore, Ari. | 34 | 173 | 5.1 | 1 |
| Deebo Samuel, S.F.-Was. | 138 | 668 | 4.8 | 10 |
| Curtis Samuel, Buf.-Was. | 50 | 240 | 4.8 | 2 |
| Tyreek Hill, Mia. | 21 | 100 | 4.8 | 1 |
| Greg Dortch, Ari. | 20 | 95 | 4.8 | 1 |
| Tank Dell, Hou. | 20 | 94 | 4.7 | 0 |
| Marvin Mims, Den. | 34 | 150 | 4.4 | 1 |
| Brandon Powell, LAR-Min. | 22 | 97 | 4.4 | 0 |
| Elijah Moore, 3 tms | 21 | 41 | 2.0 | 1 |
Shaheed has torn his ACL three times – twice at Weber State and in October of 2024. Teams will have to factor that in. But there will be a bunch of teams bidding on him.
No doubt the Seahawks would like to have him back, but I’m not confident they’ll be willing outbid everyone. They have another receiver who can do some of the same things (fifth-rounder Tory Horton, who looked promising before suffering a season-ending injury). The Seahawks, recall, wanted to bring back Geno Smith but pivoted to Sam Darnold after they couldn’t agree with Smith on an extension. More so than other teams, the Seahawks seem like they’ll calculate the value of a player, and then stick to it.
Perhaps Shaheed likes playing for Seattle and sticks around. But more likely, I’m thinking, that he signs a more lucrative deal elsewhere. And good for him. After going undrafted back in 2022, Shaheed has made only $7.4 million in four seasons. He’s paid his dues, and it will be good to see him cash in.
—Ian Allan