What impact will Rashid Shahid's speed have on the Seahawks' offense?

The Seahawks are fifth in the league in scoring this season, with Sam Danold boasting an exceptionally high passing percentage, second only to Kurt Warner, the Rams' leader of the "best offense on earth" in 2001. If Jackson Smith-Njigba maintains his efficiency, he will surpass 2,000 receiving yards this season, setting a new league single-season receiving yards record.

So why did the Seahawks make a move before the trade deadline, acquiring wide receiver Rasheed Shahid from the Saints in the fourth and fifth rounds?

"He's a playmaker," said Seahawks head coach Mike McDonald. "Obviously, his speed is an advantage."

In today's league, teams are constantly looking for ways to make their passing offense more efficient, and that's exactly what the Seahawks hope Shahid will achieve with his arrival. Shahid played six games last season with former Saints OC, now Seahawks OC Clint Kubiak. In those six weeks, Shahid averaged 17.4 receiving yards per down, with his shortest touchdown averaging 43 yards.

Shahid and Kubiak have reunited with the Seahawks, teaming up alongside the league's most prolific wide receiver, Njigba. McDonald stated that their trade for Shahid wasn't about changing opposing defenses—"I don't think we were trying to change the structure or anything"—but adding a Flash will undoubtedly make an already incredibly dynamic offense even more unstoppable.

"Anytime you have a weapon with that kind of quality around you, the offense gets a lot of help," Darnold said of Shahid.

Njigba is frequently double-teamed, with opposing defenses setting up him or simply placing a safety at the top of his lane. His runs are highly efficient, and Darnold is still able to pass to him even when double-teamed. However, constantly throwing to double-teams isn't a sustainable strategy. So far, the Seahawks have been able to create large yardages by utilizing Njigba when double-teamed, employing heavy setups, and exploiting mismatches against opposing linebackers.

Week 9, 8:46 remaining in the second quarter, first down 10 yards

In this play, the commander was guarding Cover 1 (man-to-man + only one deep safety), and this sole safety was clearly biased towards Njigba's side, while the other positions were man-to-man. Tight end Elijah Arroyo ran a perpendicular route to face off against the opposing strong guard Tyler Owens.

Arroyo easily attacked the seam route without encountering any help defense. Looking at the other side, Njigba also completely shook off his marker on the right, so much so that even with a safety at the top of the route, Darnold could pass to him.

Danold ultimately chose to attack Arroyo, delivering a perfectly placed pass for a touchdown.

The Seahawks can't afford to face an easy opponent like the Commander. While Arroyo, AJ Barner, and wide receiver Tory Horton have been able to anchor the passing system, creating one-on-one wins using Ngigba's draw, the question remains: how will these offensive weapons perform in the playoffs? Horton seems to have the potential to be an efficient wide receiver, playing exceptionally well against the Commander this week, but sometimes he struggles to find open looks. Shahid, on the other hand, has proven he can not only beat one-on-one defenses but also dismantle them.

Week 7, 4:49 remaining in the first quarter, first down 10 yards

In this long pass attack specifically designed to break the Cover4 zone defense, Njigba runs a wheel route, while Horton designs a series of dribbling runs to attack the safety.

Darnold first looked at Horton, waiting for the route to unfold, but Horton was unable to create an open space. In the final moments, Darnold could only hastily throw the ball away to avoid a sack.

Let's look at the first down offense Kubiak designed for Shahid last season.

Week 5 last season, 9:07 remaining in the second quarter, second down, 9 yards.

Against the Chiefs, Shahid was in slot. Quarterback Derek Karl had running back Alvin Kamara move from the backfield to the outside of Shahid to draw the safety's attention.

Chiefs were guarding Cover4, and because Kamara was running a short route, safety Brian Cook had to cover the shallow end like a man-to-man. Shahid was running a cover-post route. He gave Cook a small dribble to the outside and then completely shook him off from the inside.

Cook had no chance to catch Shahid from behind, as Shahid created a nearly 5-yard open space. Shahid also tracked down long passers, adjusting his body perfectly to catch the ball in the end zone.

The Seahawks repeatedly benefited from the opponent's single tall guard defense and exploited mismatches against their basic setup, but they consistently failed to run their runs effectively. What happens if the defense plays a lightweight setup and guards two tall guards? Shahid indicated he wasn't afraid of two tall guards—not that you can consistently beat two tall guards with his speed, but having another option is always a good thing when you need big yards.

"You see, you can also attack a two-tall guard defense," McDonald said. "There are a lot of great runs that don't work against two tall guards. Consistently beating that kind of defense is difficult, and that's what we want to do going forward."

Last season, Week 2, 4:14 remaining in the first quarter, first down 10 yards

In this play, Kubiak devised a feint followed by a long pass, and Shahid made a deep post run on the right flank.

The cowboys guarded Cover 9, which means they were on the strong side—Shahid's side—guarding Cover 2, and on the weak side, Cover 4. Cover 2 was intended to avoid being attacked from a vertical line, but Shahid quickly took over the space left by the safety and passed by him.

Karl seemed to throw the ball as far as he could, and Shahid once again caught up with it, maintained his balance, and ultimately completed the touchdown.

Shahid will certainly have many vertical attacking opportunities, but his role in helping Njigba is more about not occupying the ball too much. His presence on the field prevents the opposition from frantically double-teaming Njigba, because they risk not just being hit hard by a single target, but directly conceding a touchdown. Shahid's positioning on the field will create more space for Njigba, which is very dangerous for defensive defenders.

“I can stretch the court vertically, which is amazing,” Shahid said. “I think that’s why we had such a great start to last season. Chris (Olavie) and I’m able to stretch the court, which opened up a lot of different things. That was key to our offense last year. We focused on that, and we were able to identify and execute it.”

Seahawks general manager John Schneider has been intentionally building the team’s roster since Kubiak took over as OC. He drafted guard Gray Zabel, who excels at zone screens, in the first round of the draft, along with tight end Arroyo. Now they’ve added Shahid to raise the ceiling of their offense. Ngigba is the only true superstar on offense, but they have enough supporting players and the right offensive system to contend with any defense. Of course, the playoffs are a different story, and we’ve seen big-ball offense repeatedly thwarted by great defensive plans. However, when opponents are trying to stop Ngigba, Shahid gives the Seahawks an important alternative.