Rashid Shaheed trade grades: Seahawks land speedy receiver in deadline deal with Saints

The Seattle Seahawks entered the NFL trade deadline in the market for a receiver and were able to fill that need with Tuesday's Rashid Shaheed deal with the New Orleans Saints.

To acquire Shaheed, the Seahawks sent two 2026 draft picks -- a fourth- and fifth-rounder -- to New Orleans for the 27-year-old receiver.

Let's grade the trade: 

Seahawks: A-

The Seahawks already have one of the league's best offenses, and it just got better with Shaheed.

Seattle already has Jaxon Smith-Njigba, who leads the NFL in receiving yards (948), but this was a deal that the Seahawks needed to make for two reasons: They needed a reliable deep threat and were in serious need of some receiver depth. Shaheed checks both of those boxes.

When it comes to the deep ball, Shaheed has been among the league's best receivers. Since his rookie year in 2022, he has caught 11 touchdown passes of 40 yards or more, which is that span's third most, behind only Ja'Marr Chase and Tyreek Hill.

If you want to see his speed in action, just check out the 87-yard touchdown that he had in Week 5 of the Saints' upset win over the Giants. 

Shaheed has been Mr. Reliable for the Saints this year with at least four receptions in every game. His nine-game streak with at least four catches is actually tied with Smith-Njigba for the NFL's third-longest-active streak.

Shaheed will be headed to Seattle to learn a Seahawks offense that he should be able to quickly pick up because his old coach, Klint Kubiak, is the offensive coordinator. Before signing on as the Seahawks' offensive coordinator this year, Kubiak spent the 2024 season in the same role with New Orleans. Shaheed thrived during his short time with Kubiak, catching 20 passes for 349 yards and three touchdowns in just six games.

From a depth standpoint, this move also helps Seattle a lot. The high-flying Seahawks scored 38 points in a Week 9 win over the Commanders, but they did that with multiple receivers sidelined due to injuries. Cooper Kupp (heel, hamstring), Dareke Young (quadricep) and Jake Bobo (Achilles) were all ruled out. The Seahawks' lack of receiver depth didn't seem to phase Sam Darnold, who still managed to throw for 330 yards and four touchdowns with 129 of those yards going to Smith-Njigba.

Shaheed also return kicks -- he was actually voted an All-Pro returner in 2023 -- so that's another strong element of his game that the Seahawks will be able to use.

Shaheed's contract expires at the end of the year, so the Seahawks are paying a lot for what could be just a two-month rental, but that's the only knock on what is otherwise a brilliant trade for Seattle. 

Saints: B

The Saints have a rookie quarterback and a first-year coach, so it certainly makes sense to blow things up and start over and getting two draft picks in this deal will help them do that.

Shaheed's deal was set to expire after the 2025 season, so there's a chance that New Orleans could have lost him for nothing during the offseason. Getting two picks definitely helps.

That said, Shaheed was a diamond in the rough for the Saints. He was an undrafted free agent in 2022 who ended up blowing away any and all expectations that the team might have had for him during his three-plus years in New Orleans. During that time, he caught 138 passes for 2,055 yards and 12 touchdowns.

When you have a budding star like Shaheed fall in your lap, you usually try to keep that player, but the Saints clearly felt that it would be better for them to trade him for picks. This is a team that's looking toward the future, so the logic makes sense, but losing Shaheed still hurts.