Rashid Shaheed selected to the Pro Bowl as a kick returner (1 Viewer)

[SonOfNOLA]

 

[SweetT]

Well deserved

 

[PBsWhodat]

Only one on the team….. I remember when we used to have at least 3/4 players.

 

[Rouxble]

I remember in the preseason a lot of people were adamant that he should not be returning kicks. Looks like the team made the right choice putting him in a position to use his talents.

 

[JPSaints87]

At least one positive streak stayed intact.

I believe it's 16 or 17 years straight that we send at least player to the Pro Bowl???

 

[El Caliente]

He earned that.

 

[saintfan1972]

At least one positive streak stayed intact.

I believe it's 16 or 17 years straight that we send at least player to the Pro Bowl???

Don't every team have to at least have 1? Or am I mixing it up with MLB baseball?

 

[JPSaints87]

Don't every team have to at least have 1? Or am I mixing it up with MLB baseball?

Sometime that's not the case. Some teams didn't have any Pro Bowlers. Last season, I believe no Jaguars was selected to the Pro Bowl.

 

[southdeltan]

Only one on the team….. I remember when we used to have at least 3/4 players.

I remember when we had none.

 

[Artifactual]

Congratulations to Sheed!

He was on track early in the season to lead the league in all-purpose yardage. The offensive play calling and play scheming got away from getting him the ball down the field and instead they attempted to get him the ball on wr screens that didn't work very well. His overall numbers declined as a result. The defense struggled to pin the opponent deep often enough to force returnable punts so again his number of opportunities in the punt return game dropped. Earlier in the year he had been returning kickoffs from as much as three yards deep in the endzone but that too changed as the year went on. And of course he had the knee injury that limited him a little. Overall still impressive and encouraging things from a 2nd year undrafted free agent player who entered the league coming off a late season serious knee injury that stymied his play in the first half of his rookie season. Saints fans can expect further growth from Rashid in year three.

As a side note, league sources have said that they will discuss rules relating to kickoffs in the offseason and possibly implement new rule changes to enhance that part of the game. Their 1st priority is to limit high speed collisions that create serious player injuries. Keeping the kicking and the return team close together has limited the full speed contact of the players and the rule changes regarding blocking schemes has had a positive impact as well. What has become of one of the games most potentially exciting plays has turned into a mostly boring routine play with few exceptions. Currently there isn't much incentive to return the kickoff at all. What they may choose to do is move the kicking team back 5 or 10 yards so that the kickoff return game becomes a bigger part of the game and becomes more exciting. I would be all for that. That would greatly impact the special team players value and certainly returners such as Shaheed.

 

[Waymer]

At least one positive streak stayed intact.

I believe it's 16 or 17 years straight that we send at least player to the Pro Bowl???

Looks like you have to go back to 2007 for the last season without a Saints Pro Bowl participant.

Looks like non-PB years for the Saints are 2007, 1980, and then 1970-77. If my quick too-early-in-the-morning search is accurate.

New Orleans Saints All-Pros and Pro Bowlers | Pro-Football-Reference.com

New Orleans Saints All-Pros and Pro Bowlers

www.pro-football-reference.com

 

[GW93]

I remember in the preseason a lot of people were adamant that he should not be returning kicks. Looks like the team made the right choice putting him in a position to use his talents.

I think they meant he should not be returning kicks from 5-6 yards in the end zone to only reach the 22 when he could have taken the touchback and netted the team a few extra yards.

But all that return yardage adds up and looks good on your stat sheet when pro bowl voting begins, and I imagine every player has a Pro Bowl bonus in their contract, so good for him.

 

[Grumpy Old Manatee]

Happy for him, but do they even kickoff anymore in the Pro-Bowl?

 

[Elvis]

Good for him. He's come a long way in a really short time.

 

[sainthood]

Way to come back from fumbling the opening kickoff of the season. Solid player that deserves to be our number two wide receiver and a bigger contract. Shaheed is the most underpaid player on the team and does not even factor into our salary cap.