The diminished health of former fantasy football superstar WR Michael Thomas helped open the door for an expanded role for New Orleans Saints WR Rashid Shaheed last season.
With the Thomas era officially coming to an end in the Big Easy, should fantasy managers have Shaheed on their breakout candidate radar heading into 2024?
Rashid Shaheed’s 2024 Fantasy Forecast
Shaheed’s 2023 production saw his numbers jump by a significant margin across the board in his second year in the NFL. His 75 targets, 46 receptions, 719 yards, and five TDs were all career-highs. This led to a WR44 overall finish in full-PPR formats, which certainly signifies a high trajectory for Shaheed’s ascension entering the 2024 campaign.
Now, despite his very encouraging 2023 production, no one should assume Shaheed is a threat to steal the leading gig away from Chris Olave — who finished with more targets, receptions, and receiving yards last season. However, Shaheed’s role as a complementary big-play threat alongside Olave could be the speedster’s best path to fantasy success.
Shaheed’s 14.6-yard average depth of target ranked as the 10th-highest mark for qualified receivers, with his 24 deep targets also ranking inside the top 20 at the position.
The 1.68 yards per route run felt a bit disappointing, but his effectiveness as a vertical threat feels very secure. What should have fantasy managers intrigued is the potential for an expanded role in this passing attack.
Thomas’ release could lead to a more reliable fantasy floor, but it also could lead to expanded roles for A.T. Perry or Cedrick Wilson Jr. It is a bit unknown at the moment, but a path to a larger target share is well within the range of outcomes.
Oddly enough, I believe one of the biggest detractors to Shaheed’s breakout role is a running back. Alvin Kamara averaged an absurd 6.6 targets per game last year, which is fairly higher than Shaheed’s mark of five targets per contest in 2023. Quarterback Derek Carr was more than willing to dump the ball off to Kamara underneath, which is a role I would love to see expand for Shaheed in 2024.
Shaheed’s ADP at No. 172 overall in the 15th round (WR63 off the board) certainly makes some sense when pairing his big-play ability with a potentially expanded role alongside Olave in 2024.
Regarding the Saints’ passing attack, Olave is the clear-cut top option, Kamara still demands an insanely high target share out of the backfield, and Taysom Hill continues to be a wild card. Yet, there is definitely a path to Shaheed finishing the year as the third-most-targeted Saints pass catcher in 2024.
If you are looking for a high-floor depth option in this range, then Shaheed probably isn’t going to be your guy. There is some noteworthy volatility to his game. However, the weekly big-play upside to flip the script against an opponent projected to outperform you by a wide margin is part of what intrigues me the most regarding Shaheed’s fantasy outlook in 2024.
The weekly upside paired with just enough of a fantasy floor in a receiver room that is completely undetermined beyond Olave makes him worth this selection in the ninth round of full-PPR formats.
