The tailback-needy Seahawks turned last week to a receiver who has a history of playing the running back position. And Rashid Shaheed delivered.
Shaheed told reporters this week that he played tailback in high school and college. He made the switch to receiver during his sophomore season at Weber State.
“Once I figured out that I wasn’t going to be a big person, I made that decision that I didn’t want to get hit by linebackers,” Shaheed said.
First, they have to catch him. On his 28-yard touchdown run last week against the Chargers, no one touched him.
“I liked it a lot,” Shaheed said. “It was something that we’ve been trying to key in on for a few weeks now, and to get it ran and executed was really fun.”
He said it was harder to go from running back to receiver than receiver to running back.
“As a running back, you can just get the ball and make something happen,” Shaheed said. “As a receiver, there are so many other things that need to happen around the play for you to get the ball. I feel like I am still continuing to learn at the receiver position knowing I was late to the party.”
Shaheed clearly wants to play some more tailback for the Seahawks.
“Just any chance I can get to have the ball in my hands,” Shaheed said. “Growing up playing running back allows me to have a different feel for the game, and I give that a lot of credit.”
The best part for Shaheed is that he’s getting paid like a receiver. In fact, his three-year deal pays out $17 million per year from signing; that’s more than the average annual value of the Bijan Robinson and Jahmyr Gibbs contracts, when assessed not in new-money terms but from the moment pen was put to paper.