The Athletic throws curveball with Seahawks breakout star pick

The Seattle Seahawks are the defending Super Bowl champs, but in order to repeat they’re going to need some of their key contributors on the roster to take another step forward. The Seahawks lost a number of players on defense and one of their most explosive options on offense in Kenneth Walker III.

That puts the onus on players like Rashid Shaheed and AJ Barner to pick up some of the slack on offense. Realistically, Jaxon Smith-Njigba did all he could do last season to help this Seahawks offense, so they are going to need more production from elsewhere.

Recently, The Athletic pinpointed a potential breakout star for every team in the NFL coming into the 2026 season. Saad Yousuf highlighted Shaheed as the Seahawks player that could make the leap this fall.

“Shaheed has established himself as an electric returner, but he hasn’t hit his potential as a wide receiver,” Yousuf wrote. “In his four NFL seasons, he’s never had 60 catches in a campaign, or 1,000 yards receiving. New offensive coordinator Brian Fleury is taking over after seven years in San Francisco under Kyle Shanahan, where he’s seen how dynamic weapons can be maximized.”

Shaheed was acquired midseason by the Seahawks last season and his presence was felt on the field. He is a special teams weapon as one of the best return men in the league, and that was felt when he returned a critical punt for a touchdown against the Rams in the regular season and then took the opening kickoff back to the house against the 49ers in the Divisional Round.

Shaheed is also a great deep threat, which is something the Seahawks didn’t explore as much last year. While he did have a big catch in the NFC Championship Game against the Rams, the Seahawks would be wise to get him involved in the passing game a bit more this season. If new offensive coordinator Brian Fleury can do that, this could be one of the most explosive units in the NFL once again in 2026.