For Weber State alumni fans, the 2026 NFL season opened with a storyline worth savoring: Rashid Shaheed is a Super Bowl champion.
The former Wildcat wideout was traded from the New Orleans Saints to the Seattle Seahawks — the reigning Super Bowl champions — giving Shaheed both a championship ring and a reset on his NFL trajectory. It's a remarkable turn for a player who spent last season grinding with a Saints squad that struggled to win, only to land in Seattle just in time to celebrate a title.
A Quiet Start, But the Stage Is Set
Shaheed's Week 1 debut as a Seahawk was modest: one reception for four yards in Seattle's 13–10 win over the New England Patriots. The box score doesn't tell the full story, though. The Seahawks' offense is loaded with options, and Shaheed is carving out his role within a championship-caliber system — a very different situation than the one he left in New Orleans.
Fantasy managers are already weighing his upside. Early-season analysis has him in a start/sit debate against Patriots wideout Romeo Doubs, a sign that the NFL world is watching to see how much of the Seahawks' passing attack filters his way. With Seattle boasting championship infrastructure around him, the ceiling is real even if Week 1 was a slow burn.
The Trade That Made It Happen
Why did New Orleans move on from Shaheed? Reports indicate the Saints dealt him to Seattle as part of roster maneuvering on a young team still searching for its identity. For Shaheed, the destination couldn't have been more fortuitous — he arrived on a roster that proceeded to win it all. That's the kind of career luck that's impossible to manufacture, and the kind of résumé moment that follows a player for the rest of his career.
The Rest of the Wildcat Watch
Shaheed is the headliner, but Weber State has a small cluster of NFL contributors worth tracking this season. Taron Johnson suits up at cornerback for the Las Vegas Raiders, while Iosua Opeta and Sua Opeta remain on the Philadelphia Eagles' roster. Winston Reid is with the Cleveland Browns at linebacker, and Jonah Williams is listed on the New Orleans Saints at defensive end. None of the other Wildcats generated statistical news in Week 1, but the presence of six alumni across active NFL rosters remains a quiet point of pride for a program that doesn't always get its due.
For now, Shaheed is the story — a Weber State product wearing a Super Bowl ring and lining up for the defending champions. Week 1 was just the opening act.
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