Rashid Shaheed has been the subject of trade rumors for weeks now with the Saints in rebuild mode, and New Orleans sent him to Seattle at the trade deadline on Tuesday.
RASHID SHAHEED
- Shaheed had an 18.1-yard average depth of target with Klint Kubiak last year and now reunites with him in Seattle. He will certainly see fewer targets now (21% target share with New Orleans this year and now has superior target competition), but he already knows the Kubiak offense from last year and should immediately step in as the WR2 here. It also feels meaningful that Kubiak sought out Shaheed after using him a ton last year (23% target share with the aforementioned 18.1-yard aDOT in 2024).
- Jaxon Smith-Njigba is the NFL’s premier target hog and will remain in that role regardless of target competition, meaning fewer looks for Shaheed. However, this is such an upgrade in offensive environment for Shaheed that it should be a boon to his fantasy value as a whole. Shaheed has seen five-plus targets in every game this year — that streak is now in jeopardy, but the weekly upside is far greater.
- Sam Darnold leads the league in deep passing yards and is second in quarterback aDOT. It’s a match made in heaven for this offense and Shaheed’s skill set.
SAINTS PASS CATCHERS
- Devaughn Vele will presumably step into a larger role now. Vele had a 12.2% target share and a respectable 41/475/3 line in 13 games as a rookie, but he’s not a fantasy consideration in this Saints offense. Similarly, Brandin Cooks will assume WR2 duties behind Chris Olave, but Cooks is now 32 years old and isn’t the WR he once was.
- Olave already has a 28% target share on the season and should control an even larger role with Shaheed’s 21.2% target share now vacated. Olave is also averaging a career-low 6.4 yards per target, has a second-round rookie quarterback throwing him the ball, and has three touchdowns on 87 targets this season. He remains a fantasy starter, and the Shaheed departure is an upgrade for him in that even more volume will funnel his way, but the upside is still capped by the Saints’ offensive inadequacies.
- Similarly, Juwan Johnson will see more targets — he has an 18% target share on the year, including a 15.7% share over the last month with Foster Moreau back — and could be a spot starter at TE on volume alone, but the touchdown upside we crave with TEs simply doesn’t exist for him at the same level as others at his position.
SEAHAWKS PASS CATCHERS
- There’s nothing to worry about with JSN. His seasonal 36.1% target share may fall, but it was likely to fall anyway (the highest single-season mark of the last few years is Malik Nabers last year at 33.1%), and he remains a contender for the overall WR1 spot in fantasy football.
- Beyond JSN, it gets interesting. Cooper Kupp missed Week 9 after suffering a hamstring injury in practice. His status for Week 10 and beyond is unknown. Tory Horton exploded for 4/48/2 in Kupp’s absence but has largely been in a low-volume, field-stretching role that overlaps with Shaheed’s skill set. We’ll see if the Seahawks have any intention of playing Horton over Kupp when Kupp is healthy, but the redundancy of Shaheed and Horton’s abilities and the fact that Seattle went out of their way to acquire Shaheed bode pretty poorly for Horton’s outlook.
- A.J. Barner has been the clear TE1 for Seattle all year, and that continued out of the bye (84% snaps). The Shaheed addition could cut into Elijah Arroyo‘s workload a little bit if they use more WR-heavy sets rather than 2-TE sets.
- This is clearly good news for Sam Darnold to add another weapon, especially a deep threat like Shaheed, that adds onto what’s already been a strength for Seattle this year.
