You’re not alone.
I guess that plenty of fantasy football managers have outright dismissed the New Orleans Saints under the premise of wanting no part of what might be a sinking ship. Wide receiver Rashid Shaheed is a specialist who is coming off a season that ended after six games due to a meniscus injury that required surgery, and it would be easy to lose track of him during your draft.
He’s not a target, but outright denying his value is not something that sharp managers will be doing this summer.
Rashid Shaheed’s Fantasy Outlook
Shaheed is a gazelle. He’s a fluid athlete who seems to move at a different speed than those around him, even when surrounded by some of the best athletes on the planet.
Rashid Shaheed moving at a different speed pic.twitter.com/SWVuDqWfXo
— Josh Norris (@JoshNorris) June 11, 2025
His most remarkable trait is his ability to stretch the field, and there is no denying that. I’ll get to the concerns on that front, but if you’re rolling the dice on him around the WR50, which is the cost of doing business, you need to be sold on that because there is a little more to the skill set.
- 37 catches on 45 targets and 5.6 yards per catch after the reception
- 33 catches on 47 targets and 5.6 yards per catch after the reception
Those are stat lines for two players on balls thrown under five yards downfield over the past three seasons. One player had first-round draft capital spent on him, has a pair of 1,000-yard seasons under his belt as he approaches his prime, and was labeled by fantasy managers as a top-20 receiver this time last year.
The other is Shaheed.
I’m not suggesting that Shaheed is Brandon Aiyuk (a receiver who, by the way, has produced alongside quarterbacks with little in the way of expectations), but I do think there is a little more than meets the eye when it comes to how the drafting public views him.
But yes, the athleticism is the calling card. Shaheed has produced 28.8% over PPR expectations given his target diet during his career and owns a 14.8-yard aDOT over that stretch. During those three seasons, 19.1% of his receptions and 90% of his TD grabs have come on gains of 30+ yards.
Say what you will about Derek Carr, but he was efficient when taking his shots, and that played well into what Shaheed excels at. From 2020 to 2024, he was the fifth-rated passer in both raw passer rating and touchdown rate when throwing deep. He wasn’t good at it; he was elite.
Tyler Shough’s scouting profile doesn’t fit that skill set, not as a rookie. During the scouting process, we had this note that caught my eye:
“Accuracy, precision, and mechanical quickness are still issues for Shough, but he’s a 93rd-percentile athlete at the QB position.”
That’s obviously not ideal, but the report does praise his raw arm talent and diamond-in-the-rough potential should he take well to coaching at the professional level.
That’s all well and good, but we are worried about the next six months, and it certainly sounds like expectations need to be held in check. Heck, rumors have swirled that this is a tank situation for Arch Manning in April, and whether that is right or wrong, it speaks to the potential for this to go sideways in a hurry.
I’m leaving the light on for Shaheed in best ball formats and in dynasty situations, but I’m not overextending myself for a third year to acquire him in redraft.
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The Saints brought in Doug Nussmeier as their new offensive coordinator this offseason, a former Walter Payton Award winner as the best offensive player in DI-AA who was actually drafted by this organization back in 1994.
In theory, the focus on the pass game should lead to optimism when it comes to Shaheed, but I’m willing to bet on this as more of a slow-playing situation than anything positive in the short term. At his previous stops:
- QB Coach for the Cowboys (2020-22): 16th in aDOT, 14th in deep CMP%
- 12th in red zone pass TD%
- QB Coach for the Chargers (2023): 21st in aDOT, 19th in deep CMP%
- 19th in red zone pass TD%
- QB Coach for the Eagles (2024): 17th in aDOT, 11th in deep CMP%
- 16th in red zone pass TD%
Bye week filler? Sign me up. Someone I’d take over similar skill sets in better situations (Keon Coleman and Marvin Mims Jr., to name a few)? Not so much.
Frank Ammirante’s Rashid Shaheed Projection
Rashid Shaheed is coming off an impressive season, where he caught 20-of-41 targets for 359 yards and three touchdowns in only three games. If Shaheed were able to stay healthy, we could have seen a breakout season. The problem is that the Saints are likely going to have some of the worst QB play in the NFL this year, whether it’s Tyler Shough or Spencer Rattler.
The good news is that Kellen Moore has proven to be an offensive mastermind, so perhaps he can get more out of this offense. Like several wideouts on this list, Shaheed looks like a better play in Best Ball, where it’s easier to deal with his boom-or-bust nature.
Still, you have to be impressed with what this 27-year-old former undrafted wideout has done in a small sample in his career so far. This is the type of receiver who can take the top off an opposing defense.
