Rashid Shaheed won’t be on the field Monday night when the Seattle Seahawks face the Chicago Bears, with a knee injury keeping him out at a time when his role has already been under the microscope.
The absence adds another layer to a season that has not produced the kind of receiving impact Seattle expected. Shaheed has played in seven games and still hasn’t found the end zone as a receiver. He has 16 catches on 30 targets for 163 yards, plus one rushing touchdown.
Seattle brought Shaheed in from the New Orleans Saints in November 2025, and he has yet to deliver a receiving score since the trade. The Seahawks then re-signed him in March to a three-year deal after he made a major special teams imprint during their run to Super Bowl LX, highlighted by a 95-yard kickoff return touchdown in the divisional round against the San Francisco 49ers. Across 12 games last season, including the playoffs, he finished with 352 scrimmage yards and no touchdowns on 29 touches.
The numbers tell the story of a player whose production has dipped in Seattle. Shaheed is averaging 29.3 scrimmage yards per game with the Seahawks, below what he posted with New Orleans.
In 42 games with the Saints, he had 21 catches on passes thrown at least 25 yards beyond the line of scrimmage, and 10 of those went for touchdowns. With Seattle, he has only two such receptions in 19 games.
Offensive coordinator Brian Fleury said Shaheed’s usage depends on how defenses react to fast-flow concepts and the blocking that creates space on the perimeter. Head coach Mike Macdonald was direct about the bigger picture, saying, “I think there’s more there,” and stressing that the issue is not effort or trying, but the ongoing process of spreading the ball around and finding better ways to get Shaheed the ball in his optimal range.
Quarterback Sam Darnold also pointed to missed chances, including an overthrow on a go route in Denver. Shaheed’s lone touchdown this season came on a 28-yard pitch from the backfield against the Los Angeles Chargers in Week 4, part of a package Fleury installed over the offseason and modeled after Deebo Samuel Sr.’s usage in San Francisco.
Since that game, Shaheed has not carried the ball again except for a fumble on an end-around in Week 6. Rookie Jadarian Price and Zach Charbonnet are also sidelined.
Even with Shaheed’s struggles, Seattle’s passing game has found a clear centerpiece. Jaxon Smith-Njigba leads the NFL with 867 receiving yards and eight receiving touchdowns, and he has accounted for 53.9% of Seattle’s receiving yards - the second-highest share through seven games in the past 75 seasons, according to Elias Sports Bureau. His 78 targets are also a league-high 36.6% target share.
The Seahawks’ offense showed signs of life in a 20-3 win over the Kansas City Chiefs after they simplified the game plan coming out of the mini-bye. The recent addition of left guard Quenton Nelson gives the unit another boost as it waits for Price and Charbonnet to return.
“The plan is for his role to continually expand,” Macdonald said of Shaheed. “But I think there’s more there.”
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