‘Our Type of Guy’: Seahawks Fired Up to Add Rashid Shaheed For Playoff Push
[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="2325"]
New Orleans Saints wide receiver Rashid Shaheed (22) scores a touchdown against San Francisco 49ers safety Jason Pinnock (25) during the second half at Caesars Superdome. Credit: Stephen Lew-Imagn Images [/caption]
RENTON, Wash. - Winners of three consecutive games and getting healthier with the return of several key players from injury, Mike Macdonald didn’t feel the Seattle Seahawks needed to force the issue looking to make a move at the NFL trade deadline.
But with a legitimate shot to win the NFC West for the first time since 2020 and earn at least one home game in the postseason, Seahawks general manager John Schneider, Macdonald, the personnel department, and the coaching staff worked in conjunction looking for players who could help the team’s ongoing playoff push while also fitting in the locker room. Leaning on insight from offensive coordinator Klint Kubiak, the chance to further bolster an already potent offense proved to be too good to pass up, as Seattle acquired playmaking receiver Rashid Shaheed from New Orleans for a pair of 2026 Day 3 draft picks hours before Tuesday’s deadline.
Working quickly to start implementing the Seahawks newest weapon with a massive divisional rematch against the Cardinals on tap on Sunday at Lumen Field, Macdonald expressed his excitement of adding “our type of guy” in Shaheed and praised everyone in the organization from Schneider to Kubiak for allowing the deal to get done.
“It didn't feel like we were missing something, it's not like we were trying to plug holes or anything like that,” Macdonald told reporters prior to Wednesday’s practice. “It was just an opportunity to get a great player and augment what we were doing, that was it. But yeah, I'm excited about it and excited to see him out there.”
Leading up to the deadline, on the heels of a 38-14 blowout win over the Commanders, the Seahawks ranked fifth in the NFL in scoring (28.6 points per game) largely behind the brilliance of quarterback Sam Darnold, receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba, and a high-flying passing attack. Tossing four touchdown passes in Landover without taking any sacks, Darnold has emerged as an MVP front-runner in his first season in the Pacific Northwest with 16 touchdowns, a 70 percent completion rate, and a league-best 9.6 yards per attempt, while Smith-Njigba nearly has 1,000 receiving yards in just eight games and finds himself on pace to break Calvin Johnson’s single season record.
But away from Smith-Njigba, though rookie standout Tory Horton has already caught five touchdown passes and continues to carve out a bigger role in Kubiak’s offense, Seattle entered Week 10 without any other receivers on the roster with more than 293 receiving yards. Injuries also have emerged as a problem as of late with Cooper Kupp (hamstring), Jake Bobo (calf), and Dareke Young (hip) all sidelined in the win over Washington, making the position an under-the-radar area of need going into the second half.
Given those circumstances, Schneider didn’t leave any stones unturned, calling multiple teams about receivers over the past several weeks to see who may or may not be available. However, as is often the case at the deadline, most of those calls didn’t advance past initial discussions with other teams seeking too much in return.
However, as the November 4 deadline quickly approached, Schneider maintained contact with Saints general manager Mickey Loomis in regard to multiple players, including Shaheed, who thrived playing in Kubiak’s offense with New Orleans before suffering a season-ending torn meniscus in his knee last October. By Tuesday morning, mere hours from the trade clock striking midnight, the two sides had reached a compromise after Loomis initially asked for a third round pick, settling for 2026 fourth and fifth round picks instead to finalize the deal and send the ex-Weber State star to the Pacific Northwest.
By Wednesday morning, less than 24 hours after the trade was agreed upon, Shaheed walked through the doors of the VMAC for the first time grinning ear to ear, eager to get started with his new team as he moved from the 1-8 Saints to the NFC West-leading 6-2 Seahawks.
“I know it's a winning organization, and that's what matters the most in this league. I'm just excited to be a part of it, get to know the guys and coaches, and just get acclimated with the culture around here,” Shaheed said.
In most instances, acquiring a player during the middle of a game week creates a near-impossible situation trying to learn enough of a new playbook to be able to play in a game the upcoming weekend. Just one year ago, linebacker Ernest Jones endured quite the crash course after coming to town in a trade with the Titans, and while he ended up starting in a loss to the Bills less than five days after being dealt, he acknowledged afterward that it was a whirlwind taking a rushed crash course in Macdonald’s complicated defense and it took a few games for him to truly get his feet underneath him.
But for Shaheed, Macdonald hopes his prior history playing in Kubiak’s scheme will expedite “getting him up to speed” this week. In just six games a year ago, he caught 20 passes for 349 yards and scored three touchdowns, ranking second in the NFL at the time of his injury averaging 17.5 yards per reception and scoring all three of his touchdowns on 40-plus yard throws, demonstrating his capabilities as an elite downfield threat. He also averaged 5.1 yards per reception after the catch, finding moderate success on bubble screens and crossing routes to turn on the jets and make plays with the football in his hands.
While Macdonald indicated Shaheed’s addition wasn’t made necessarily to “dictate structures” of the defense, having another receiver with 4.3 speed who can take the top off of the defense and stretch the seams should, at least in theory, do just that for opponents. His presence coupled with Smith-Njigba and Horton gives Kubiak three dynamic vertical targets that can be on the field at the same time, which may be the necessary ingredient to prevent defensives from playing crowded boxes as frequently and thus help open up running room for Ken Walker III and Zach Charbonnet.
Adding to his receiving contributions seeing snaps both from the boundary as well as slid inside in the slot, Shaheed carried the football six times for 29 yards as an extension of the Saints’ run game, being utilized on jet sweeps, end arounds, and even pitch plays out of the backfield by Kubiak. Having utilized Smith-Njigba in similar fashion already this year, it should be an expectation that he will get his hands on the ball in a variety of ways to help an inconsistent Seahawks’ ground attack.
Ready to pitch in however he can, just a little over a year after he played in his last game with Kubiak in New Orleans, Shaheed doesn’t expect the process of re-learning the playbook to take much time, providing a far smoother transition joining Seattle than most players have to navigate after a midseason trade.
“It’s pretty much the same. Little tweaks here and there game planning stuff,” Shaheed explained. But from the first looks of it, it looks pretty similar. It's just going to take a minute to get used to the verbiage again and it should come pretty quick.”
If there’s a true adjustment period Shaheed will have to tackle, it will be building a rapport with Darnold, as the two have never played together previously. Such connections can take several weeks to start coming to fruition, especially with practice reps during the season being far more limited than in the offseason program or training camp.
At the same time, Darnold has already proven he can develop chemistry with receivers quickly, evidenced by the impressive early season results throwing to Smith-Njigba and Horton among others. As he told reporters on Thursday, he’s going to put the work in, making as many extra throws to Shaheed as he can on the practice field “without hurting my arm.”
Well-versed in Kubiak’s offense dating back to their time together in San Francisco two years ago, schematic familiarity will undoubtedly be a major advantage for both Darnold and his newest weapon that should accelerate the learning curve from the outset, giving opponents game-planning for him, Smith-Njigba, and company the real headaches.
And while Shaheed has joined the Seahawks on an expiring contract with free agency looming in March, he didn’t sound interested in testing those waters out in the spring on Wednesday. Instead, offering up words that should be music to the ears of the 12s, he’s confident this will be the start of a long-term courtship that gets sorted out after the season concludes, allowing ample time for Darnold to get in sync with him as he aims to help the franchise win big for years to come.
“I'm here to stay. So, I'm excited to see if we can figure something out after the season ends. But, yeah, I'm excited.”
