Why the Seahawks re-signed Rashid Shaheed for all that money
The Seahawks could have gone in another direction if they were just looking for someone to return the ball
The Seahawks signed Rashid Shaheed to a three-year, $51 million contract to keep their Pro Bowl return man from leaving in free agency, something that John Schneider wasn’t willing to do for many of Seattle’s free agents.
Shaheed’s $17 million annual average salary (AAV) ties him as the 27th-highest paid receiver in the league now, but it wasn’t anything he did on offense that wowed Seahawks fans during his 12-game audition in Seattle. Were it not for his three return touchdowns, including one in the playoffs, there would not have been any crowd support for the Seahawks to bring him back.
Were it not for Shaheed’s returns, the Seahawks may have also not won the Super Bowl.
However, just because he titillated us with how he scored in 2025, that’s not necessarily how the Seahawks expect Shaheed to score in 2026 and beyond.
Teams do not pay $17 million, or $7 million, for “really good” return men who turn 28 before the next season starts. Not in this era or any era. And if the Seahawks have an elite person on special teams, he’s a coach, not a player.
So why pay Shaheed more money than Cooper Kupp when Shaheed barely averaged 20 yards per game with Seattle?
The NFL’s kickoff return is new, but overpaying for speed is a tale as old as football.
Eduardo: Though everyone is glad that Rashid Shaheed resigned, some argued that the Hawks overpaid for his services. With the role Special Teams played in our success last year and the rule changes making ST more of a factor in the overall game, could Schneider instead be baking this into Shaheed’s contract and allocating according to the way special teams is being valued in today’s NFL?
The NFL’s rules encourage more returns (roughly 1,100 more kickoff returns in 2025) but the difference in explosive plays is either minimal or nonexistent. Even though there were six kickoff return touchdowns (including one by Shaheed), that’s out of thousands of plays.
If the league’s most elite, highest paid return man is making $5 million per year and Shaheed is making $17 million per year, is the “bake” $12 million per season?
And especially on a team like the Seahawks that has the best defense in the league, or at least portends to do that, we’re talking about a role that in theory will be used the least of any team in the league because they aren’t allowing as many scores.
Between the Seahawks and the Saints, Shaheed had only 15 kickoff returns in 18 games last year. 53 players had more kickoff returns than Shaheed.
Shaheed was the only player to have both a punt return touchdown and a kickoff return touchdown, but five players had two punt return touchdowns. A great defense would force more punts, but it’s far easier to just punt away or out of bounds from a guy who you know is dangerous, or just take the touchback.
Is someone like rookie Chimere Dike, the NFL’s first-team All-Pro return man representative (17.3 yards per punt return, 2 touchdowns, NFL-high 2,427 scrimmage yards) better than Shaheed? As the 103rd pick in the 2025 draft, Dike makes $1.3 million per year until 2028 (maybe a couple slight bumps for performance along the way).
In addition to having better punt return numbers than Shaheed, Dike also caught 48 passes for 423 yards, eclipsing Shaheed’s offensive stats with the Seahawks.
I’ve said this before, but there’s nothing about Rashid Shaheed that NFL fans haven’t seen countless times before. He’s not close to the best return man in history or the last 25 years, and he’s not even the best return man in the history of the Seahawks. He didn’t even lead the team in yards per kickoff return last year (that would be Dareke Young).
And given Jay Harbaugh’s rapidly ascending reputation as one of the best special teams coaches in football, how can we adequately separate player from system? In fact, the system looked good in 2024 if it weren’t for the fumbles.
If Seattle simply had one goal in mind, to have a return man who could threaten to take it to the house once or twice per year and not fumble, there is no possible bake for that to take a $6 or $7 million contract to a $17 million contract.
Given that Schneider is not prone to overpaying players like so many outsiders wanted the Seahawks to do for their other 2026 free agents, I believe we can safely assume that they mostly paid Shaheed that much to be a receiver, of which there is far more supporting evidence:
Alec Pierce makes $28.5m AAV
Jameson Williams makes $26.5m AAV
Jakobi Meyers makes $20m AAV
Wan’Dale Robinson makes $17.5m AAV
Romeo Doubs makes $17m AAV
It’s easy to throw a stone in the NFL and hit a receiver who is overpaid. Some of these examples, and others I didn’t mention, possess traits that are difficult to find. Last offseason, the Rams paid Tutu Atwell $10 million for one year even though he had not proven anything on the field through four seasons.
When a stat gets overrated like “oh he’s got 1,000 yards” (Williams, Robinson) it’s easier to justify these salaries to the public.
Shaheed’s career-high is 719 yards and his contributions as a runner are negligible. His stats with the Seahawks were the worst of his career.
But when teams make bets on receivers like these (the Eagles traded for Dontayvion Wicks on Friday and immediately added $12.5 million for one year to his contract) that’s probably where these numbers for Rashid Shaheed are half-baked.
Seattle’s making a bet that Shaheed’s biggest setback after the trade deadline was a lack of reps with Sam Darnold and worst case scenario at least he has had an extra six months to get on the same page with the quarterback compared to anyone the Seahawks could have added this offseason.
Shaheed’s contract locks him into the roster through 2027, at least, during which I think the Seahawks will attempt to dial up his contributions as a receiver and dial back his contributions as a returner.
I mean, it wasn’t as though Tory Horton, a Seattle receiver who also had a punt return touchdown last year (95 yards, longest in the league), was inadequate or that he couldn’t take back that role. In fact, it makes more sense for HORTON to dial up his return snaps and dial down his receiving snaps given his propensity for injuries.
If there’s any baking to Shaheed’s contract, it’s that the Seahawks think he’s as good as Khalil Shakir ($13.25m AAV) and they rounded that up to $15m in 2026 and then put $2 million on top for special teams.
To repeat stuff I also said about Tyler Lockett about six years ago, a guy we might have forgotten was also once an elite Seahawks return man:
You don’t risk a good starting receiver to make him a great returner
Once you start paying Shaheed $17 million per season, you make it apparent that he’s a receiver and therefore can’t have as big of a role on special teams. I got pushback when I said Lockett’s return would be dialed back after he signed his first extension, but since then he basically never took any more special teams snaps.
I don’t think Shaheed will stop playing special teams now. But guys like Horton and George Holani and others will probably be considered and tried as full-time replacements now that Shaheed is the second-highest paid receiver on the Seahawks.
I also wanted to jump off of some comments from Friday’s article about Dane Brugler’s The Beast and use it again to highlight other prospects, starting with this safety.
S Jalen Kilgore, South Carolina (Dane’s 88th overall prospect)
Jake: “Kilgore seems like the most Seahawky of Seahawks and I believe was S partners with Nick and would be an amazing 3rd round pick if hes available. Would be the Love replacement and absolute dawg to work with Nick.”
Kilgore is the youngest safety in the draft at 21.24 years of age and he is cousins with Giants left tackle Andrew Thomas.
In addition to playing next to Nick Emmanwori in college, Kilgore was high school teammates with Packers safey Javon Bullard.
Dane’s biggest concern with Kilgore is projecting him as anything other than a nickel, a position that the Seahawks have pretty well set with Emmanwori already. That doesn’t mean that Kilgore can’t be moved, but that the team is betting on the player and his fit with the coaching staff.
Here are some of Dane’s strengths and weaknesses for Kilgore:
STRENGTHS
Impressive size-speed athlete — and consistently plays up to it
Fluid, agile mover who rarely gets beaten by athleticism in the slot
Plays with big eyes to anticipate opportunities
Career ball production jumps out (29 passes defended, eight interceptions)
Long arms and filled-out build; comfortable reading and maneuvering inside the box
Takes fast angles when breaking on throws and runs through targets
Aggressive alley runner; both snappy and strong as a tackler
WEAKNESSES
Bursty athlete but not a controlled one
Detailed route runners can turn him and get him stuck on his heels, creating catch windows
Early contact will get him in trouble in coverage (pass-interference flags against Vanderbilt and Clemson in 2025)
Wish there were more snaps on his tape from deep alignment
When I look at Seattle’s other safeties last year, I see two fourth round picks (Coby Bryant, Julian Love) and an undrafted free agent (Ty Okada). Having pick 96 and then no picks for a long while, the Seahawks might see that as their chance to grab a safety if they haven’t been able to trade down for more picks.
Here’s Dane’s final summary on Kilgore:
“Overall, Kilgore is a tough eval when projecting him at a position other than nickel, but his size, athletic talent and ball-hawking skills should give teams confidence to make that bet. There is a high-risk, high-reward scenario waiting for the team that chases his upside.”
From the perspective of drafting a safety as a reaction to losing Coby or preparing to part with Love in the near future, the player should fit that mold. Of course, Bryant and Love were BOTH outside cornerbacks in college, so moving someone around in the NFL to replace them could also necessitate a position switch.