Seahawks bringing back Rashid Shaheed on 3-year deal
SEATTLE – Turns out, Rashid Shaheed hit the free agent market only to end up right back in Seattle.
Shaheed, the Seahawks receiver whose electric return ability proved a pivotal part of Seattle’s run to the Super Bowl title, agreed Monday afternoon to re-sign with the Seahawks on a three-year deal worth up to $51 million with $34.7 million guaranteed, according to various reports.
A league source confirmed the agreement to the Seattle Times.
An ESPN report last week stated that Shaheed and the Seahawks were “not close” on an agreement for an extension and he would test the market once the legal negotiating period began Monday.
But a little over six hours into the opening day of free agency, the Seahawks and Shaheed hammered out a contract that will keep him in Seattle through the 2028 season.
The Seahawks acquired Shaheed on Nov. 4 in a trade with the New Orleans Saints, giving up fourth- and fifth-round picks in the 2026 draft.
He took over as the No. 3 receiver for the injured Tory Horton behind Jaxon Smith-Njigba and Cooper Kupp but made his biggest impact as a returner with a punt and kickoff return for a TD in the regular season and another kickoff return for a TD to open the divisional playoff game against the 49ers and spark a 41-6 route.
Shaheed said the day he was introduced to Seattle media that he hoped to re-sign with the Seahawks.
“I’m here to stay,” said Shaheed, adding: “I’m excited to see if we can figure something out after the season ends.”
Shaheed’s special-teams contributions – which included a game-turning punt return against the Rams that led a rally from a 16-point fourth-quarter deficit and powered the Seahawks to a 38-37 win that proved pivotal in winning the NFC West and getting the top seed in the NFC playoffs – appeared to only increase his value in free agency.
Shaheed was rated 12th on NFL.com’s list of the top free agents available and Pro Football Focus estimated he might be worth a three-year deal worth up to $42 million.
The Seahawks ended up blasting past that number to assure Shaheed will stay.
While full details of the contract have yet to be revealed, an average of $17 million makes Shaheed the 29th highest-paid WR in the NFL at the moment, via Spotrac.com. It also gives him the fourth-highest average per year of any Seahawk and second on offense behind the $33.5 million of Sam Darnold. Kupp is sixth at $15 million.
Both figure to fall behind Smith-Njigba when the Seahawks are likely to extend him at some point before the 2026 season begins to a deal that could top $40 million. Smith-Njigba recently said in an interview with a Dallas TV station that he feels he deserves to be the highest-paid player at his position following a 2025 season in which he won honors as the AP NFL Offensive Player of the Year.
It was thought that the Las Vegas Raiders and new head coach Klint Kubiak – who was the Seahawks’ offensive coordinator last season and was with Shaheed with the Saints in 2024 – would make a serious run Shaheed and the Buffalo Bills had also been mentioned as a possible suitor.
And Seahawks GM John Schneider had seemed to further indicate that a Shaheed return might be unlikely when the topic of the report that Shaheed would hit the free agent market was brought up during his appearance on Seattle Sports 710 last week.
“I saw the report yesterday and was like, ‘I think he and his representatives have been testing free agency for over a week now,”’ Schneider said. “I’m not sure why that was news yesterday.”
Shaheed, though, now gets to stay in Seattle while also receiving a massive pay increase.
Shaheed entered the NFL with the New Orleans Saints in 2022 as an undrafted free agent out of Weber State. He made $4.2 million last season and had made just under $8 million overall in his first four NFL seasons but now will average more than double that per season.
Shaheed had a muted impact as a receiver with the Seahawks in 2025 with 15 catches for 188 yards and a long of 33 in nine regular season games with no touchdowns and three catches for 78 yards – with along of 51 – in the postseason.
But the hope will be that he fits in with the offense of new coordinator Brian Fleury next season while maintaining his special teams magic.
Speaking at the NFL scouting combine last month, Schneider called it “a huge blessing” that the Seahawks were able to get Shaheed when they did with Horton going down with a shin injury.
“He came in players welcomed right away, he fit in, he fit in great,” Schneider said.
Schneider said then that, “we’d love to have him back.”
That seemed in doubt after the report last week. But ultimately the Seahawks got it done, making Shaheed the second free agent the team was able to retain Monday along with cornerback Josh Jobe.
The Seahawks also expect to get Horton back from the shin injury that sidelined him the final two months of the regular season and playoffs giving them a set top four receiving corps for new offensive coordinator Brian Fleury to work with in 2026.
The Seahawks also have decisions to make whether they will re-sign unrestricted free agent receiver Dareke Young and restricted free agent Jake Bobo to further fill out the receiving corps.