Fantasy football implications of the Seahawks, deal with the Saints

The 2025 NFL Trade Deadline was absolutely wild. With 10 contracts agreed on November 4th, this was tied for the most active trade deadline in history. Many of the notable players who were touched were defensive players, such as Sauce Gardner and Quinnen Williams. Obviously, those moves don’t have much impact on fantasy football. The trade involving Rashid Shahid certainly will.

The receiver was traded with New Orleans Saints that the Seattle Seahawks for a fourth- and fifth-round pick in 2026. So what is fantasy football as a result of the trade?

Is Rashid Shahid’s fantasy value increasing or decreasing?

The Seahawks clearly value Shaheed, considering they gave up two draft picks to acquire him. It has actually been added for even more than Jacoby Meyers in the Las Vegas Raiders-Jacksonville Jaguars trade. Because of this, many fantasy football managers are predicting Shaheed to break out in Seattle.

He has Sam Darnold throwing him the football. With another great season under his belt, Darnold has established himself as one of the best quarterbacks in the NFL, and he’s a definite upgrade over Spencer Rutler or Tyler Shoff. Darnold also has a cannon of an arm, which benefits a receiver like Shahid.

The Weber State product is one of the best deep threats in the NFL. He’s sure to be on the receiving end of a few of Darnold’s long bombs in the future. However, Shahid has always been at his best in the best ball formats, and he is a tough starter in standard fantasy leagues. Although he can go on a big play at any moment, it is difficult to predict when he will do so. Fantasy managers risk a bad game whenever they play him in their starting lineup.

This likely won’t change with the Seahawks. Not only does Shaheed not thrive in the short and medium areas of the pitch like he does deep infield, but he has a ton of competition for targets. Jakon Smith-Njigba right now lead the NFL in Target, and Torey Horton is really breaking into the scene. Horton, who was outstanding in training camphad two touchdowns in the Seahawks’ last game. Seattle also has a Cooper Cup in its receiving corps. Cupp isn’t the player he was when he won the Triple Crown, but he’s still a solid receiver who can get receptions when healthy.

Seattle’s offense is impressive, but it also needs to support the tandem of Kenneth Walker and Zach Charbonnet, both of whom need plenty of carries. The Shaheed trade will do a lot more to help the Seahawks’ roster than it will help fantasy managers. Shaheed is averaging 11.6 ppr per game. That made him a fringe flex option that made fantasy managers grimace in concern whenever they had to start him with the Saints. His fantasy doesn’t improve much, if at all, with the Seahawks.

However, Shahid’s departure from Saints will make life difficult for Shaw. The rookie is already facing the struggles of being a first-year starter, and now he won’t have a deep threat to throw him the ball. Shough is on waivers in most leagues, and definitely not worth picking up right now. Chris Olave’s production could improve, however, as there aren’t many other players to handle the football in New Orleans.