Canal Street Chronicles
Back during the 2025 NFL Trade Deadline, the New Orleans Saints traded away WR Rashid Shaheed and OG Trevor Penning. Shaheed was traded to the Seattle Seahawks for a 2026 4th- and 5th-round pick, while the much more surprising move was sending Penning to the Los Angeles Chargers for a future 6th-round pick.
Now that it has been more than a month since those trades, let’s check in on how both players are doing.
Starting with the more expected move made by the Saints, the speedy WR had a slow start in Seattle. In Shaheed’s first four weeks with his new team, his stats were not impressive, with only 37 receiving yards, 4 receptions, 11 targets, and 36 rushing yards. This was completely understandable, given that Shaheed was on a new team for the first time in his career and had to learn a new offense/QB.
That fifth game for Shaheed was where he finally made the impact expected from him. Against the Atlanta Falcons (thank you, Shaheed), he finished with 67 receiving yards, 4 receptions, and one kick return touchdown. Next game, Shaheed finished with 74 receiving yards and 5 receptions.
After these two great performances, Shaheed was unable to get a reception against the Los Angeles Rams in week 16, but had one rush for 31 yards and a punt return for a touchdown.
As of now, it seems Shaheed’s involvement in the offense is not guaranteed, and his guaranteed impact is on special teams. Was this worth a 4th- and 5th-round pick? I do think so, especially for a potential Super Bowl team. On the Saints’ side, there was also a well-worth-it trade, especially with Shaheed going to free agency.
While the Seahawks have seen a good return on their trade, the Chargers have not. Right away, Penning was put in at starting LT in his first game, and it was not good. Since that point, the former first-round pick has been benched and is now used as a 6th offensive lineman on run downs. This was always where Penning was best in New Orleans, and it seems Los Angeles learned this quickly.
Also, Penning got a designed pass thrown to him when the Chargers played the Kansas City Chiefs, so that was fun.
