Why the Seahawks traded two draft picks to Saints to get Rashid Shaheed
The Seahawks have made a trade before the NFL deadline.
Seattle has an agreement to trade two draft choices to the New Orleans Saints to acquire 2023 All-Pro wide receiver Rashid Shaheed, a league source told The News Tribune on Tuesday morning. That was on the condition of anonymity because the teams had yet to announce the deal.
The Seahawks confirmed at noon they traded a fourth-round pick in 2026 and fifth-round pick in 2026 to New Orleans. That leaves Seattle with a draft lineup next year of a single picks in each of rounds one, two, three and six.
The 27-year-old Shaheed also has returned punts and kickoffs in his four NFL seasons.
News of the trade broke hours before the league deadline of 1 p.m. Tuesday, with the Seahawks calling around and receiving calls about more possible deals before then.
None materialized. Shaheed had five catches on nine targets for 68 yards last weekend in the Saints’ 34-10 loss at the Los Angeles Rams. He’ll presumably play Sunday for the Seahawks (6-2) when they try to stay in first place in the NFC West playing the Arizona Cardinals (3-5) at Lumen Field.
In making the trade for Shaheed the Seahawks are banking on familiarity with their offensive system and play-calling. Klint Kubiak, Seattle’s offensive coordinator, was New Orleans’ offensive coordinator last season calling Shaheed’s plays with the Saints.
The Seahawks tried this familiarity deal with Marquez Valdes-Scantling this summer at wide receiver. But the 31-year-old veteran, who also played for Kubiak and the Saints in 2024, did next to nothing in training-camp practices. The Seahawks released him before the season began.
Shaheed is younger and far better. He has 44 receptions, 22 for first downs, with two touchdowns in nine games this season for the sunken Saints, who are 1-8. He has not dropped a pass in 66 targets.
Seattle has had quarterback Sam Darnold throwing primarily, and efficiently, to Jaxon Smith-Njigba, the NFL’s leading receiving halfway through the season. He set a team record Sunday night with his fourth consecutive 100-yard receiving game, in the Seahawks’ blowout win at Washington.
But 32-year-old wide receiver Cooper Kupp missed that game. The 2021 NFL offensive player of that year and Super Bowl MVP to end that season with the Los Angeles Rams has two leg injuries, a heel before he injured his hamstring in practice last week. His previous three seasons with the Rams were all filled with injuries. That is why they released the Yakima native this offseason.
The Seahawks signed him to a three-year contract worth up to $45 million as a free agent.
Seattle’s third wide receiver has been rookie Tory Horton, who also returns punts. The fifth-round pick from Colorado State had two touchdown catches in his most prominent game so far at Washington this past weekend, with Kupp out.
Shaheed has had his own injuries. He’s yet to play a full NFL season of 17 games since rising from an undrafted rookie from Weber State in 2022 to an All-Pro with the Saints. He’s missed time with knee, toe, hamstring and groin injuries. He played in only six games for the Saints in 2024 because of a season-ending knee injury.
He is in the final season of a two-year contract New Orleans signed him to as an exclusive-rights free agent. The Seahawks picked up roughly half of his $4.2 million salary for the final nine games of this regular season. He could become an unrestricted free agent for the first time in March 2026, if the Seahawks don’t re-sign him before that.
He now has nine games to prove to coach Mike Macdonald and general manager John Schneider he’s worthy of an extension to stay in Seattle for 2026, and beyond.
This story was originally published November 4, 2025 at 11:25 AM.
