The Seahawks’ midseason acquisition of Rashid Shaheed had a familiar feeling for John Schneider.
Seattle’s general manager was a young scout with the Green Bay Packers when they signed another wide receiver and return specialist, Desmond Howard, in 1996. The former Heisman Trophy winner scored five touchdowns on special teams that year, including one on a 99-yard kickoff return in Super Bowl XXXI on his way to being named the game’s MVP.
As with Howard and the Packers 29 years earlier, Seattle might not be Super Bowl champions if it weren’t for Shaheed. After arriving in a Nov. 4 trade with the New Orleans Saints, the pending free agent scored three return touchdowns and pitched in on offense with enough timely plays to help the Seahawks claim their second Lombardi Trophy in franchise history.
“It was a huge blessing,” Schneider said last week at the combine. “… You take away the football player, he’s a really cool human. He came in, players welcomed him right away, he fit in great. It was fun being able to talk to him about the Desmond Howard stuff when we were with the Packers, how that changed our season when we won a world championship with Coach [Mike] Holmgren.”
Schneider is hoping Shaheed’s story has a different ending than that of Howard, who left the Packers in free agency in 1997. But the latest news on that front did not paint an optimistic picture, with ESPN’s Adam Schefter reporting Wednesday that Shaheed is not close to a new deal with the Seahawks and that he’s expected to test the market when the free agency negotiating window opens Monday.
That does not bode well for the Seahawks’ chances of re-signing one of the key pieces of their Super Bowl run, even with Shaheed saying upon his arrival that he was “here to stay.”
Seattle’s other free agents include running back Kenneth Walker III, safety Coby Bryant, cornerbacks Josh Jobe and Riq Woolen and outside linebacker Boye Mafe. Schneider spent a good chunk of his time in Indianapolis trying to gauge what kind of money those players will be looking for by meeting with their representatives. Drew Rosenhaus, with whom Schneider has a long-standing relationship, is Shaheed’s agent.
Another prominent agent who does not represent any of the aforementioned six players told ESPN that, by his estimate, Shaheed’s market could yield a deal averaging around $18 million. Spotrac.com calculates his value at around $14 million per year.
“We’re down here trying to talk to everybody and get a feel for what the spring’s going to look like,” Schneider said. “He knows we’d love to have him back.”
There may be added motivation for the Seahawks to re-sign Shaheed since they gave up fourth- and fifth-round picks to acquire him, leaving Seattle with only four selections in April’s draft. But the biggest incentive of all is that he’s a game-changing talent.
Shaheed, 27, made the Pro Bowl as a kick returner for the second time in his four-year career after scoring twice on special teams in the regular season. That included his 58-yard punt return for a touchdown against the Los Angeles Rams in Week 16. It was one of the most impactful plays of the Seahawks’ season, igniting their rally from a 16-point deficit in the fourth quarter before they won in overtime to maintain control of the NFC’s top seed. After their first-round playoff bye, Shaheed returned the opening kickoff of the divisional round 95 yards for a touchdown, setting an early tone in Seattle’s blowout win over the San Francisco 49ers.
Shaheed, though, didn’t produce as much on offense as some anticipated when his trade to Seattle reunited him with coordinator Klint Kubiak, who held the same position in 2024 with the Saints.
Including playoffs, he totaled 352 scrimmage yards and no touchdowns on 29 touches in 12 games with the Seahawks. That per-game average of 29.3 yards — which came as the third receiver behind Jaxon Smith-Njigba and Cooper Kupp in Seattle’s run-heavy offense — was significantly less than his average of just under 52 scrimmage yards over three and a half seasons in New Orleans.
One of the NFL’s top deep threats since he entered the league as an undrafted free agent out of Weber State in 2022, Shaheed averaged more air yards per target with Seattle (16.1) than in New Orleans (13.6), but only one of two of his 18 receptions (on 36 targets) went for more than 25 yards. One was a 51-yard gain against the Rams in the NFC Championship Game. He also had two clutch catches on Seattle’s game-winning drive against the Indianapolis Colts in Week 15.
Then again, bottom-line production doesn’t tell the full story of Shaheed’s impact on Seattle’s offense. In eight games before his arrival, the Seahawks faced more boxes with at least eight defenders on designed running plays than any other team, according to ESPN Research. They dropped to 11th over the final nine games of the regular season, as defenses were forced to account for the threat of his vertical speed. Including playoffs, the percentage of such plays went from roughly 37% to 29%, which was no small factor in Seattle’s run game coming alive down the stretch.
In determining how much they’re willing to pay Shaheed, the Seahawks have to gauge how much Tory Horton can give them as a cheaper alternative. After falling to the fifth round last year because of a leg injury that cut his final Colorado St. season short, Horton scored five touchdowns over his first eight games as Seattle’s No. 3 receiver, plus another on a 95-yard punt return. He then missed the remainder of the season with a shin injury. Coach Mike Macdonald told reporters at the combine that Horton “got fixed up” and that he won’t be ready to participate in the offseason workout program this spring.
Of Kupp’s $12.99 million base salary for next season, $9 million became fully guaranteed when he remained on the Seahawks’ roster five days after the Super Bowl, indicating they’re prepared to keep him for his age-33 season at a total cost of $13.5 million. Smith-Njigba is in line for an extension that could make him the game’s highest-paid receiver, while star cornerback Devon Witherspoon is also eligible for what would be a massive new deal.
Which means that even with plenty of cap space — roughly $58 million, according to OverTheCap.com — the Seahawks can only go so far in order to re-sign Shaheed. Unless he finds a softer market than expected, he’ll likely follow Howard’s footsteps in another way.
“The Rams game … I still pull that thing up on YouTube just to watch it,” Schneider said of Shaheed’s return touchdown. “It was pretty special. He ran right by us going like 140 miles an hour. But yeah, it definitely did [change Seattle’s season]. It was exciting, and we’d love having him back.”
