Believe it or not, Tuesday’s trade deadline deal between the New Orleans Saints and Seattle Seahawks was a win-win. Or as close to it as it gets. Shaheed was not going to re-sign with the Saints as a free agent next year, which meant the team would have to navigate free agency carefully to hope for a compensatory draft pick in 2027. And that would’ve been a fourth-round pick, maybe a late third rounder, if they were lucky.
Instead, the Saints got a better return for Shaheed which they can use right away. Seattle is sending their 2026 picks in Rounds 4 and 5, which is a stronger haul than we’ve seen in a couple of recent wide receiver trades. It’s more than the Saints spent themselves to get Devaughn Vele, or what the Jacksonville Jaguars gave the Las Vegas Raiders in exchange for Jakobi Meyers. That’s good value, and a rare win for embattled general manager Mickey Loomis.
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What about Shaheed himself? He gets to run routes for a familiar offensive coordinator (Klint Kubiak) and catch passes in one of the NFL’s hottest offenses. He’s also set up to get $20 million or more in a new contract extension at the end of the year. Going from a 1-8 team to a 6-2 playoff contender is major.
If there’s a loser here, it’s Tyler Shough. The rookie quarterback just lost one of his best weapons. He’ll have to adapt and find other outlets to lean on through the back half of the season. It’s awful convenient that trading Shaheed forces Vele to move up the depth chart. He hasn’t gotten enough snaps or targets since the Saints traded for him, so Vele and Shough must work on getting on the same page as soon as possible.
This article originally appeared on Saints Wire: Rashid Shaheed trade: Snap reaction to Saints-Seahawks deadline deal