Rashid Shaheed continued to show that he must be within the dialog for the league’s finest deep menace throughout the Saints’ dominant 44-19 win over the Cowboys on Sunday.
Shaheed blazed previous the Cowboys’ Donovan Wilson and Malik Hooker late within the first quarter and hauled in a 70-yard landing in stride from QB Derek Carr. He completed the competition with 109 scrimmage yards.
The 2022 un-drafted Weber State alum emerged into the league as an elite return specialist. He was named a first-team All-Professional punt returner in 2023 however confirmed flashes of being one of many league’s extra explosive offensive weapons throughout his sophomore season. He is now ripped off two receiving touchdowns of 59 or extra yards via two weeks and is on tempo to almost double his 2023 receiving yardage complete of 719.
Appalling stats of Shaheed’s dominance down the sector have been posted to X following his 70-yard landing. Sunday’s landing was his 13th catch of 40 or more yards since getting into the league in 2022, the second-most in that span, solely behind Tyreek Hill (17), in line with Luke Johnson of the New Orleans Instances-Picayune. The deep ball additionally raised his average career touchdown length to an astounding 51.4 yards, in line with ESPN’s Katherine Terrell.
Following the Saints’ Week 1 win in opposition to the Panthers, Shaheed said he knew the offensive opportunities would come for him.
“It is all the time a superb feeling to have the ability to make the performs vertically down the sector,” Shaheed mentioned. “I knew that I used to be going to get the alternatives. The coaches know that that is my sturdy go well with… I take the highest off any likelihood I get.”
Whereas his game-by-game success primarily depends on a lone colossal play, Shaheed will proceed to be a key contributor to a ferocious Saints offense that has posted at the very least 44 factors in consecutive video games to open the season. New Orleans’ subsequent matchup is at dwelling in opposition to the Philadelphia Eagles, who boast one of many league’s extra exploitable secondaries.
