Anyone who follows this blog knows that I had been suggesting, for a good while now, that perhaps the Seattle Seahawks would target one of two receivers who played for offensive coordinator Klint Kubiak last year in New Orleans. Chris Olave or Rashid Shaheed made too much sense for a 6-2 Seahawk team to not explore acquiring, and it makes sense for the dismal 1-8 Saints team to acquire as many draft picks as possible to finally do a proper rebuild of their roster that they have been putting off for a while now.

Seattle surrendering their 4th round and 5th round picks for Shaheed was fair compensation for a young number two receiver who is an electric deep threat, a run after catch artist, and a lethal returner on special teams. Think of all the value he adds to this offense and special teams, and consider what you will likely get in the back half of rounds four and five next April.

It doesn’t bother me in the slightest that he is on the last year of his contract, and will be set to hit free agency this March. He has nine games to make his mark in Seattle on a team that now leads the league in total DVOA as they push towards the playoffs. If he proves productive, if he fits in well with the coaches, and culture, John Schneider will likely work in the offseason to retain him, and Seattle will be set up to have one of the most dynamic receiving rooms in the league once again. They will have the cap space to pay him, JSN, Charles Cross, and Devon Witherspoon all within the next couple years.

What Shaheed brings to Seattle now is an explosive deep threat that they don’t presently have on offense, and he carries with him a familiarity of Kubiak’s offense. It might take him a few games to get the full playbook fully back in his body, and build chemistry with Darnold, but I think once we get into the later stages of November, we should see a connection forming.

The importance of his deep threat ability added to this offense is two fold. It will certainly help make a league leading explosive passing attack all the more lethal downfield, but it will also likely help the run game. Allow me to explain.

Seattle plays mostly out of heavy looks that either have two tight ends on the field, or a tight end and a fullback. Accompanied with them is two receivers. Through eight games, defensive coordinators have chosen to load the boxes against these looks, bringing safeties down to take away the run. They have been choosing to run the risk of getting beaten over the top by JSN and Cooper Kupp in order to snuff out the run, creating second and long scenarios that will hopefully lead to third and longs. Sometimes, they have paid for it, but other times, their loaded boxes have worked stalling out Seattle’s run game through stretches in games, and we have all felt these moments.

If Klint Kubiak decides to trot out Rashid Shaheed in these heavier personnel sets instead of a slower Cooper Kupp, theoretically, that could put a defensive play caller in a greater bind. Do you drop a safety down to stop Ken Walker, and risk a play action pass where a red hot Sam Darnold now has a quality target who can jet past corners and safeties downfield along with the deep route running prowess of JSN? Or do you lighten your box against this heavier look, and risk one of the most explosive running backs in the league gashing past slower second level defenders who are getting blocked up by tight ends or a fullback?

If you load the box with Shaheed on the field with JSN, you risk Darnold putting up even more absurd Madden numbers against your secondary, but if you play you safeties two deep, you run the risk of your defense getting gashed on the ground. Personally, I suspect Mike Macdonald would love nothing more than to see defenses shift to two deep looks against his offense’s heavier packages. While I am sure he loves what Darnold and JSN have been cooking together, seeing he run game further opening up to better compliment his defense would certainly be his chef’s kiss through the second half of the season.

Therefore, I believe this addition of Shaheed was made to put a further bind on defensive play callers, and it comes at the right time of the year when Seattle will continue to face some pretty formidable defenses. They will face one this weekend when Arizona comes to town, and they will face another one when they travel South to face the Rams in a week and a half.

This addition of Shaheed also provides an insurance should JSN get dinged up at any point in the remainder of the year. Some Seattle fans were probably more than a bit nervous to see Cooper Kupp show up on the injury report heading into the SNF matchup against a desperate Washington team playing for their season, and they were probably equally more than relieved to see rookie Tory Horton step up, and show out.

With Horton, Seattle Seahawk fans should feel hope for now and the future. Now, if something were to happen to JSN, and Seattle had to operate for a little while with Horton, Shaheed, and Cooper Kupp, with the way Sam Darnold is spinning it, I think a lot of fans would feel okay about it, and Kubiak would feel like he could stay within his full playbook. This matters, if you want to see this team in a deep playoff run this year.

This is why I wanted this trade to happen, and I’m not even spending much time discussing what Shaheed’s value will bring as a returner on special teams. We know Seattle is trending to be having one of the top defenses in the league, and we know their offense has been surprisingly explosive. Now they have a returner who can make their return game lethal each and every Sunday that they play.

If you enjoyed the way Seattle took care of business against the Commanders, and the way they made the game against the Saints over before halftime in back in September, you should be pumped that they added Shaheed to their offense and special teams. There are games on their schedule where we could easily now see similar outcomes in favor of Seattle where by the fourth quarter, we are watching Drew Lock throwing to Jake Bobo in garbage time minutes, and handing the ball off to George Holani to kill clock.

Yeah, for all these reasons, I love this trade.

I know most wanted to see Seattle trade for a right guard, but no team was going to trade away a player at the position who is better than Anthony Bradford. Good interior offensive linemen do not get traded mid season. It just doesn’t happen. The Browns, and Titans are miserable teams going nowhere this year with good veteran guards, and they held onto them.

I also allowed myself to have some pretty highly unrealistic hopes that Seattle would try to make a play for Maxx Crosby in Vegas, or Myles Garrett in Cleveland like some podcasters were suggesting that perhaps they would make a run at. Who knows if they tried, but I think the reality is that even though guys are getting a bit older on bad clubs, and perhaps cashing in on a major draft haul for them would be right for those organizations to do, it would be a brutally awful pill for any GM to force upon their tortured fanbase, and ask them to swallow it for the hope of a brighter future down the road.

Crosby and Garrett are generational talents, and they are superb leaders, and if you trade them away for capital that you hope will provide you your next franchise quarterback, and that player never materializes, you will become a league wide laughing stock for years. That is the risk.

If there was one position that I would have liked to have seen Seattle make a play for in a trade, it would have been linebacker, given the knee situation with Ernest Jones. The fact that this type of trade wasn’t made does give me hope that his injury suffered against the Commanders isn’t a bad one, and that Macdonald feels good about the depth behind him with Drake Thomas, and Tyrice Knight, and he also likes what he is seeing from his practice squad guys. It is very possible that Macdonald feels better about that position group than casual fans do, and I think we have to trust him on that given that linebacker coaching is his forte.

I will end this piece with a final thought about the trade deadline for the Seattle Seahawks. I am glad that they didn’t trade away Riq Woolen. I know he has been a subject of frustration for fans the last few years, and I, myself, have speculated on this blog whether he is a fit for Macdonald. I also know that there is a real chance that the team chooses to let him walk in free agency this Spring, but given the injury to Julian Love at safety, and the concussion to Josh Jobe last Sunday, I didn’t want to see Seattle thin out a deep cornerback room.

Woolen has played pretty well the past couple games. He still possesses a physical talent level profile that is incredibly rare in this league, and I get the sense that he is a good locker room fella. I think he has taken this trade speculation noise around him over the past couple months in good stride, and that says something about his character.

He now has an opportunity to really show his net worth in these final nine games. If he continues playing well, if that contributes to Seattle going on a deep playoff run, he will set himself up for a massive payday either here, or somewhere else next Spring. I like those intangibles being a factor for this defense moving forward this year. In fact, I like that a lot.

I like how Woolen is trending lately. I want him to be a part of this thing this year, and maybe even beyond. Through these last two games, I have come more around on Woolen from where I was with him over a month ago. I’m looking forward to seeing what he can do during this second half of the season push.

But I really do love this trade for Rashid Shaheed. This was the right thing for this team to do at the trade deadline. He is a luxury addition to this team that was worth making, and I think Seahawk fans are going to have a lot of fun watching him on Sundays. I am excited about that.

Go Hawks!