The Seattle Seahawks are 2-0 and rolling, but Rashid Shaheed has become a nagging question mark in the middle of all that success.
Through two games, Shaheed has only four catches on nine targets for 39 yards. He has also had issues on special teams, even though that’s supposed to be his area of expertise.
For a player who just re-signed with Seattle on a three-year, $51 million deal, that kind of start is tough to ignore. A lot of Seahawks fans expected him to grow into a dependable No. 2 receiver.
Instead, the early returns have raised real concern about whether the team may already be second-guessing that investment.
The numbers tell the story plainly. If Shaheed keeps producing at this pace, he’d finish the season with 34 receptions for 331 yards.
His biggest play so far has gone for 23 yards, and that one flash hasn’t been enough to offset the missed chances. He has also dropped several passes, including in Seattle’s 31-7 Week 2 road win over the Arizona Cardinals.
His impact on special teams has been uneven too. Shaheed averaged 9.5 yards on each of his four punts and totaled 127 yards on five kickoff returns, but one of his kickoffs to begin the second half against Arizona was fumbled.
Luckily for Seattle, Chazz Surratt recovered it. Still, it was the kind of mistake that could have swung the game in a bad way.
This isn’t a case of an injury explanation surfacing. There’s no reporting that Shaheed is hurt.
The issue is performance, plain and simple. Seattle has had to work through some offensive challenges, including Sam Darnold’s injury, but the offense has stayed productive anyway.
Drew Lock has stepped in and played well, keeping the unit humming and connecting with his pass-catchers - just not Shaheed.
That part is what makes this start stand out even more. Shaheed spent the offseason building chemistry with Darnold and working inside the Seahawks’ offense, but Darnold was hurt after the first drive of the 2026 season.
Even with that setback, Seattle’s passing game has found a rhythm. Jaxon Smith-Njigba has remained the top wide receiver in the league, while Shaheed has struggled to match the level expected from someone who is the 14th highest-paid player this season.
The Seahawks were hoping Shaheed would bring reliable production after being traded to Seattle at the NFL trade deadline last season. Instead, he never delivered the kind of explosive offensive stretch the team wanted, and the early part of this year has only deepened the concern. Before Darnold returns, Seattle needs Shaheed to clean up the drops and become the steady presence the contract says he should be.
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