Rashid Shaheed free agency
Will Seahawks keep most expensive return man in team history?
These days it can feel impossible to tell when quotes are real or misattributed but a saying often credited to Isaac Asimov goes: “I don’t subscribe to the thesis, ‘Let the buyer beware,’ I prefer the disregarded one that goes, ‘Let the seller be honest.’”
So instead I’ll use this one from George Carlin that I know he actually said:
“Whoever coined the term "Buyer Beware" was probably bleeding from the asshole.”
The Seahawks should attempt to keep Rashid Shaheed and they probably will, but fans have to be honest with themselves about the facts that matter today and not the memories that will last forever. Shaheed played in 12 games for Seattle and had fewer receiving yards than Kenneth Walker. What’s the most a team should pay for that production from a 28-year-old wide…RECEIVER?
The upside
Were it not for Shaheed, the Seahawks may have not won any of these games:
Week 15: Shaheed helps Seattle move into position for game-winning FG vs. Colts
Week 16: Shaheed returns punt for TD to start Seahawks comeback vs. Rams + 31-yard run sets up second TD
NFC Championship: Shaheed 51-yard catch gets this party started in here vs. Rams
The more generous fans will credit Shaheed for breaking open the scoring against the Falcons and 49ers with kickoff return touchdowns. I was a little more literal with the term “may not have won these games” because Seattle blew out Atlanta and San Francisco. In any case, Shaheed was the most valuable return man in the NFL last season and the upside is that he will bring that same intensity to special teams next season.
Offensively, it’s hard to predict how Seattle would plan to spread out targets in 2026. Will Cooper Kupp be on the team? Will Tory Horton be healthy? Will the Seahawks make an addition either through the draft or free agency or a trade?
Jaxon Smith-Njigba had almost 100 more targets than Kupp and nearly 140(!) more targets than Shaheed, the receiver with the third-most targets. And that system worked pretty well for Sam Darnold.
In terms of mouths to feed, there’s JSN, Horton, and potentially Kupp, as well as A.J. Barner, Elijah Arroyo, and whoever the running backs turn out to be.
This is on a passing offense that ranked 29th in attempts.
So even in our wildest dreams does Shaheed command more than 75 targets in 2026? For a point of reference, 75 targets would rank about 70th league-wide and put Shaheed in the company of Chimere Dike, Marquise Brown, and AD Mitchell. If Shaheed catches 60% of those for 12 yards per catch (roughly his 2025 averages), he’d have 45 catches for 540 yards.
That’s if Shaheed had 75 targets. He was on pace for 50 targets with Seattle and in the last six games (the six more important of the Seahawks’ season), he had a total of seven targets. That would be a pace of about 25 targets.
The argument that “Shaheed will get better as he gets more time with Darnold” was certainly not how it worked during the season. He was phased out as the season went on.
For me THE UPSIDE of Shaheed as a receiver has to be conservative and logical, as to keep it completely fair and expectations in line with reality:
Rashid Shaheed’s upside on offense is probably in the range of 400-500 receiving yards, 1-4 touchdowns (he never caught a touchdown with Seattle), and 100-150 rushing yards with 1-2 touchdowns. That’s a total of 500-600 yards with 2-5ish touchdowns + All-Pro return abilities.
Therefore it is only fair to pay Shaheed as a kick returner and the highest-paid player in that field is KaVontae Turpin of the Dallas Cowboys, who signed a three-year, $13.5 million deal with $4.5 million in incentives in 2025. Turpin’s contract carries a $3.1 million cap hit in year one and $4.6 million in year two with $2.2 million in savings if Dallas cuts him.
The Cowboys won’t be cutting Turpin.
Turpin was a Pro Bowl returner again and he had 396 yards as a receiver with 89 rushing yards. He’s basically the spitting image of expectations for Shaheed but without the added bonus of being a key component on a Super Bowl-winning roster.
If the Seahawks keep Shaheed in this Turpin range, the upside is there to get their money’s worth and not worry about the body parts that Carlin mentioned before. If fans think Shaheed should be paid like a WR2 though, they will be sorely disappointed.
The downside
As I said, Shaheed was a non-factor on offense save a few plays and while there will be some who argue that those plays mattered a lot (they did!) you could say the same thing about over 100 skill players in the NFL. Jake Bobo made a few key plays. I mean, defensively Nehemiah Pritchett and Derion Kendrick made a few key plays last season.
Fans and general managers have to keep emotions in check during negotiations because that’s what gets you in trouble: Contracts are not rewards or “thank yous” for helping a team win a Super Bowl.
Contracts are actually the price that TEAMS must SACRIFICE in order to fit all the puzzle pieces together in order to win the NEXT Super Bowl.
And every single player represents a slice of the pie.
A kick returner — even the best kick returner in the NFL — is only able to provide a small piece of value within that pie. A starting wide receiver deserves a much larger slice and Shaheed is a) too old to be a valuable receiver for the next 3 years and b) too inconsequential in this very offense to pay him to be anything more than a 300-yard guy.
If Shaheed gives you more than that, great. But it is not going to be that much more than that.
If the price to keep Shaheed is $12 million per season like Rashod Bateman or $10 million like Tutu Atwell or $18 million like Christian Kirk, Seattle’s just throwing money away. As all those teams did when they paid those receivers.
The downside is that the Seahawks waste money on Shaheed with the expectation that he’ll be more valuable than he was last year or that he should just be rewarded for being an awesome player for the team down the stretch. Given that John Schneider has almost never wasted money like that just to keep a fan favorite, I don’t think the team will cave to 8-figure demands.
Prediction: Turpin-like contract to stay
There is going to be the threat of Klint Kubiak convincing the Las Vegas Raiders to overpay Shaheed in free agency, potentially giving him the $10-$13 million annual salary that I mentioned earlier.
Considering that Tre Tucker was the only receiver with more than 50 targets (and he only had 92) and no other receiver coming back next year had more than 30, Shaheed is a logical fit for the Raiders as they could offer him an expanded role with an offensive coordinator he’s had for the last two seasons.
Maybe that IS what happens.
That’s why I would be surprised if Shaheed signs with the Seahawks before free agency, as he should test the market.
However, if teams are seeing what I’m seeing, there’s going to be some apprehension to pay a part-time receiver (who turns 28 before the season and barely cracked 200 yards in 12 games with the Seahawks, including playoffs) full-time receiver money. I believe there’s a good chance of Schneider convincing him to return and be Seattle’s return man for another Super Bowl run.
Honestly, Jay Harbaugh did more for Shaheed’s career legacy than Kubiak.
That being said, a Super Bowl-winning general manager made Tutu Atwell a ten-millionaire (and he caught six passes for that salary) so never over-estimate the power of hope. I don’t believe Schneider would make the same mistake, and I don’t know that Shaheed can’t prove me wrong, but what I see is a free agent worth about a three-year, $18 million contract so that’s what I’m assuming should happen.
Anything more than that and “buyer beware”…I know what the saying means, but I didn’t coin it.
One argument in favor of Shaheed being a better receiver than he appeared to be with the Seahawks this year is he came from New Orleans where he had 499 receiving yards in 1/2 a season. That is not insignificant production on a team with below average QB performance. I don’t think Darnold clicked with him. I think Darnold could click with him given an offseason and preseason to work out timing and become more comfortable. Brady Henderson said Seattle faced a lighter box with Shaheed on the field. The Hawks running game was significantly better with Shaheed vs without him. Jay Harbaugh knows how to use him. I like him, although that’s not a reason to pay him more than he’s worth, I do hope he’s with us next season and I believe he will be better than he was this year.
I continue to believe -- until something shifts during free agency -- that the Seahawks need to keep one of their two explosive free agents: Walker v. Shaheed. In both cases I suspect that keeping the player means overpaying, at least by the metrics SSJ uses -- and I don't disagree with those metrics.
We have three meaningful draft choices. (I don't care about the 4 and 5 we gave up for Shaheed; we won the Super Bowl, it's a sunk cost.) Clearly we need to add a CB (or maybe S?) and an Edge. That leaves one choices to go after an explosive player. RB is in short supply, but there are a few interesting possibilities. WR is more easily found.
When considering Shaheed, let's remember that it's not just about the fancy TDs he scored. It's also about field position. New England simply conceded the 35-yard-line on kickoffs rather than FAFO. If he gets us that, frees up the box, and adds another 5-10 yards of field position on punts and kick-offs...that's value.
I think we get one of those two back. I just don't know which one, and I don't even know which one I prefer. So I shall trust the executive of the year to do right. And he has to do right in the locker room, too. Whatever happens, he has to make it right with the players who remain. (And I believe that he will.)