In his four partial seasons with the New Orleans Saints, now-Seattle Seahawks wide receiver Rashid Shaheed caught passes from five different quarterbacks. His rookie season would serve as a microcosm for his time in the Big Easy.
Shaheed missed the first five games of 2022 as he recovered from an MCL tear suffered in his final college contest. Once healthy, he developed enough rapport with QB Andy Dalton to lead the Saints in receiving in four of their final five games. Then Dalton left, replaced by Derek Carr to begin the 2023 season.
Carr played in 27 games for the Saints. Shaheed missed the final five with a torn meniscus. By the time he returned for the 2025 season, Spencer Rattler was his quarterback.
Rashid Shaheed holds the key to the Seattle Seahawks' offense in 2026
By the time he was traded to Seattle midway through that season, it was Tyler Shough. The upshot of all this is that for whatever reason – health, roster upheaval, coaching decisions – Rashid Shaheed did not have much stability at the quarterback position until he came to Seattle.
Despite losing Super Bowl MVP Kenneth Walker III to free agency this offseason, the Seahawks return a lot of firepower on offense. My colleague Aaron Zacharias recently argued that Shaheed is the fourth most important member of that offense, behind Sam Darnold, Jaxon Smith-Njigba, and Jadarian Price.
That is an entirely reasonable analysis. But I have a feeling that if Seattle is to truly thrive this season, Shaheed is the player who will raise his game and surpass expectations more than anyone on the offense.
I expect Price to be fine as a rookie, but I don’t see him providing the kind of game-breaking plays that Walker gave Seattle last season. With Zach Charbonnet’s productivity also in question, I think new offensive coordinator Brian Fleury will have to lean a little bit more heavily on the passing game.
Even if that is true, I don’t see how Smith-Njigba could reasonably outperform his sensational 2025. He could drop off 10-15 percent and still have an All-Pro season. Yes, JSN is crucial – but he is also something of a given at this point.
Darnold obviously has to play well. You could say the same about any contending team’s quarterback. I expect that he will have another very good season.
Shaheed is the player who could take a major step forward. If he does, the Seahawks' offense goes from being very good to being a potential juggernaut.
I place a great deal of stock in the fact that for the first time in his career, Shaheed has continuity and skill at the quarterback position. There have already been reports about how much work the receiver and his quarterback have put in this offseason. There was no time for that last year, when Shaheed stepped into the middle of a playoff race.
When he came out of college in 2022, there were two knocks on Shaheed. One was health-related. That torn MCL was the second serious knee injury he experienced at Weber State. That, in large part, was the reason such a gifted athlete went undrafted in 2022.
But the other reason had to do with production. Shaheed certainly put up numbers in college. 147 catches and more than 2,000 yards. But stretched out over five seasons at the FCS level, those numbers are solid – not spectacular. At Weber State, he was a lethal kick returner and a good pass catcher.
That is exactly what Seahawks fans saw last season. Shaheed was crucial, but as a return man. Not as a receiver. He has never totaled more than 720 yards receiving in four NFL seasons. He has averaged three touchdown catches per year.
Seattle enters the 2026 season with a lot of pass-catching options behind JSN. Cooper Kupp and Tory Horton are at opposite ends of their careers, and either or both could make big plays. AJ Barner and Elijah Arroyo should form a potent combo at tight end.
None of them has the upside of Rashid Shaheed. John Schneider made that opinion clear when he re-upped his receiver for three years and more than 50 million dollars.
Now that he has a real chance to develop rapport with a quality quarterback as part of a strong offensive unit, that price could wind up seeming like a bargain. Because if Rashid Shaheed does indeed get close to that upside as a pass catcher, the rest of the NFL had better watch out.
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