Seahawks GM Doesn’t Hold Back on Re-Signing Rashid Shaheed

After winning Super Bowl LX this past 2025 season, the Seattle Seahawks have needed to make tough decisions as key players from the championship run have moved on.

Kenneth Walker III is now with the Kansas City Chiefs, while Riq Woolen took a deal with the Philadelphia Eagles. Nonetheless, not every pending free agent left Seattle for greener pastures. One of the key players from the Super Bowl run re-signed with the Seahawks.

Wide receiver Rashid Shaheed and the Seahawks agreed on a three-year, $51 million deal that includes $34.7 million guaranteed, per ESPN’s Adam Schefter.

After joining Seattle in a midseason trade from the New Orleans Saints, Shaheed quickly made his mark, especially with his explosive contributions on returns during the team’s Super Bowl run. On March 12, Seahawks general manager John Schneider spoke about keeping Shaheed.

“Like Rashid, for instance, we thought that was going to be very difficult to get him back,” Schneider said on Seattle Sports’ “Wyman and Bob.”

“We just hung with it, hung with it, and he really wanted to be here. He loved his experience here. He loves everybody in the building, and we gave two draft picks for him. So that one was okay. That was hard, so we were able to stay in range with him…

“Every year is a little bit different when you’re planning and trying to place guys, their salary ranges and where you can and can’t go. Certain position groups just go through these different phases. There’s this ebb and flow of these salary ranges at every position every year. It’s very interesting.”

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Seahawks Weren’t Going to Pay Top Dollar for Kenneth Walker III

Nonetheless, the Seahawks did lose Walker, and former Seahawks cornerback Richard Sherman shared his thoughts on the two sides parting ways, noting that it was best for both to go their separate paths.

“They lose the Super Bowl MVP, which is something I predicted because of the number that he was going to get to,“ Sherman said on the March 9 edition of “The Richard Sherman Podcast.“ “I thought other teams, like the Kansas City Chiefs, would be higher on him and have a higher number. And he gets what I believe is the highest per year for a free agent running back in the history of the National Football League at $15 million a year. And he deserves it.

“He’s going to go out there and do fantastic for the Chiefs, and I think the Seattle Seahawks will be fine. I don’t think this is going to be something that is incredibly detrimental to what they have going. I think this is a situation where what’s best for both sides kind of happened.”

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Seattle Had to Make a Tough Call on Kenneth Walker III

Still, Sherman understands that the Seahawks have to look ahead, as they will need to pay players like Jaxon Smith-Njigba who are coming up for an extension.

“Could the Seattle Seahawks maintain and keep all the guys that they’re going to have to pay [Devon] Witherspoon and JSN, and all the rest of the guys who they are going to have to shell out some money, too, and keep K9? I don’t think they would, “ Sherman added.

“So I think they took the lesser of these evils and said, ‘Hey, K9, this is what we can offer you. If you can go out there and get a huge bag, then congratulations, we love you. You’ll be a Seahawk for life. You’ll be a Super Bowl MVP with the Seattle Seahawks for the rest of your life. ‘

“And that’s going to be a beautiful thing. But I don’t think they wanted to prohibit him from going out there and getting his bag, which is what he did.”

Eduardo Razo Eduardo Razo is a sports writer for Heavy.com, covering the NFL, MLB, and college football. He has previously covered the NFL, NBA, NHL, and MLB for NBC Sports Washington and NBC Sports Bay Area & California, and has freelanced for PSG Talk, covering Paris Saint-Germain. He also worked as an editor at Athlon Sports, focusing on MLB and the NFL. More about Eduardo Razo