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# Film Breakdown: How Seahawks Can Unleash Rashid Shaheed in Klint Kubiak’s Offense
- URL: https://www.emeraldcityspectrum.com/film-breakdown-how-seattle-seahawks-unleash-rashid-shaheed-klint-kubiak/
- Published: 2025-11-05T23:26:53.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-08T05:57:22.000Z
- Author: Corbin Smith
- Tags: Analysis, Film Breakdown, Seahawks, Rashid Shaheed, Klint Kubiak

Further enhancing one of the NFL’s most potent passing arsenals and giving Sam Darnold a new toy at his disposal, the Seattle Seahawks shipped a 2026 fourth and fifth round pick to the New Orleans Saints for speedy playmaker Rashid Shaheed prior to Tuesday’s trade deadline, reuniting the veteran receiver with offensive coordinator Klint Kubiak.

Before coming to Seattle, Kubiak served the same role in New Orleans last season, and though Shaheed suffered a season-ending injury just six games into the campaign, the young wideout thrived in the first third of the season in a scheme that accentuated his skill set. Before landing on injured reserve, he ranked in the top 10 among receivers in yards per reception (17.5), touchdowns (three), and explosive 20-plus yard touchdowns (three), well on pace for his first 1,000-yard season and nearly double-digit touchdowns while also continuing to shine as one of the league’s premier punt returners.

“I'm super glad to be connected back with him,” Shaheed told reporters in his introductory press conference on Wednesday. “He's familiar with me. He knows my strengths, and I know what his mindset is going into games. It shouldn't be too hard to get acclimated with him and just find my role in the offense.”

With Shaheed and Kubiak set to link back up again in the Pacific Northwest, how can the Seahawks maximize Shaheed’s talents as a multi-faceted playmaking threat? Looking back at All-22 film from their time together with the Saints, there’s a multitude of ways Kubiak can strike further fear in opponents with Shaheed joining an offense already headlined by Jaxon Smith-Njigba and a rising rookie in Tory Horton:

**1\. Master at taking the top off a defense, both from the slot and the boundary.**

When it comes to Shaheed’s greatest asset, it’s no secret that he belongs in the upper echelon of NFL receivers running vertical routes thanks to his blazing speed and ability to track the football, and Kubiak went all in on those strengths deploying his new weapon last season. In his six games played before going down with an injury, more than a quarter of his 163 charted routes (33%) were go patterns or deep posts, leading to a league-high 17.6 average yards of depth per target and 17.5 yards per reception. During that span, he ranked second in the NFL with three touchdown receptions of 20-plus yards, regularly turning downfield shot plays into six points.

In Kubiak’s debut as the Saints play caller, Shaheed wasted little time finding the end zone, racing past cornerback Jaycee Horn with the deep safety occupied by a crossing route while in Cover 3, coming open on an in-breaking skinny post for a 59-yard score as quarterback Derek Carr hit him in stride and he tumbled past the goal line for his first touchdown of the season. The following week, he busted out the dynamite again versus the Cowboys in Dallas, taking an inside release from a reduced alignment on the strong side of a 2x1 formation before working inside as he sprinted downfield, splitting the two deep safeties in quarters coverage and running past them as Carr dropped the ball in the bucket for a 70-yard touchdown to bust the game open early.

Three weeks later, Shaheed struck again against the defending Super Bowl champion Chiefs, this time torching the opponent from the slot from a trips left look. Sprinting past the linebackers as they dropped into their hook zone responsibilities, he made a quick step towards the outside, causing the safety to turn his shoulders toward the sideline, before turning on the afterburners and rocketing back down the hash wide open. With the defender unable to recover, Carr connected with him for a 43-yard touchdown to put the Saints within striking distance on the road.

**2\. No shortage of digs, crossers, and out routes to cater to West coast style.**

While it would be easy to look at Shaheed’s 50% catch rate from last season and come to the conclusion that the speedy ex-Weber State star fits the bill of a one-trick pony who lives and breathes off the deep ball alone. However, that low catch rate has far more to do with an abundance of throws from Carr that were simply chucked up from the pocket last year, and he has been a more than capable threat at all three levels of the defense, including doing damage on in and out-breaking routes as well as crossers in the intermediate and deep level of the defense, which has long been a staple of Kubiak’s offense that derives from the Mike Shanahan system.

Last season, nearly a third of Shaheed’s routes came in the form of digs and out routes (31.3%), while crossers carried significant weight as well in his route toolbox (11.7%). The majority of his dig and out routes came in the form of the intermediate variety between 10-19 yards, including a pair of first down receptions in Kansas City. Working from the slot on the first catch, he took a somewhat rounded break inside at 12 yards behind the linebackers and in front of the two deep safeties, coming open and halting to catch the pass from Carr in the soft spot of the zone. He later used an inside release from a reduced alignment in a 3x1 set to beat man coverage and come open over the middle on a 14-yard dig, turning it into a 20-yard reception with a good chunk of yardage after the catch.

In both the intermediate and deep passing game, Kubiak dialed up plenty of deep crossing routes and drag patterns for Shaheed last season as well, creating opportunities to get his speed into space seeking damage with the ball in his hands. Against the Cowboys, he took for hard steps upfield before breaking back inside on a 12-yard drag route, beating cornerback Caelan Carson inside off his break and picking up five additional yards along the sideline after the reception. In a similar example against the Falcons, teammate Chris Olave helped run off both a cornerback and the single-high safety on a vertical down the hashmarks, creating a huge void in the Cover 3 look where Shaheed broke open on a 20-yard crossing route with nobody near him, tacking on seven yards after the catch before being pushed out of bounds.

**3\. Sprinkle in bubble screens, jet sweeps as extension of run game.**

Formerly the FCS Division I record holder with seven kick returns for touchdowns in his career at Weber State, Shaheed’s electric athleticism with the football in his hands has been utilized as a threat both in the screen and run game ever since he broke into the NFL. As a rookie, two years before Kubiak came on board, he took his first career carry on a jet sweep and housed it for a 44-yard touchdown, showcasing game-changing speed and explosiveness as an undrafted signee that put opponents on notice.

Last season, interestingly enough, Shaheed only had one run on a jet sweep and rushed for a single yard on the play. However, Kubiak found other wrinkles to get him involved as part of the Saints’ rushing attack. Using different dressings and blocking schemes, he incorporated multiple end arounds with the shifty wideout, including a well-designed fake counter with a fullback lead against the Cowboys that resulted in an eight-yard gain and another end around working off of split zone action with a wham blocking tight end coming across to formation versus the Falcons. He also received a carry directly out of the backfield on a power toss sweep with both a fullback and tight end out in front of him on the perimeter as lead blockers in Dallas.

As to be expected, Kubiak also ran several screens to Shaheed, mixing in bubble screens from static position as well as off of motions from the slot and as a single side boundary receiver. In a larger sample size with more games, tunnel screens working back inside from the perimeter could be on the menu as well, creating more chances to get the football into his hands right off the snap and let the playmaker go to work seeking quick yardage.