Mike Macdonald admits Seahawks struggling to integrate their newest weapon

Heading into the final five games on their schedule, the Seattle Seahawks have a pretty imbalanced dynamic going for themselves.

Seattle's defense continues to play at an elite level, no matter who gets injured or how potent the opponent's offense may be.

However, it's another story for the Seahawks offense. Even though they rank in the top 10 in yardage and top five in points per game, things are trending down on this side of the ball, especially for their passing attack.

One thing that would help would be getting Rashid Shaheed going, but as Mike Macdonald admitted recently, Seattle is not getting him the ball enough - per Mike Dugar at The Athletic.

“Shaheed has done a great job,” Macdonald said. “I know we haven’t gotten the ball to him as much as we want, but it’s kind of like our run game — just keep doing what you’re doing. There’s a lot of detail that has been getting caught up since he’s walked in the door. That’ll allow him to create some more opportunities. But really pleased with how he’s been since he got in the door.”

Shaheed's elite game speed has been on display every time he's touched the ball. The problem is he hasn't yet developed a chemistry with Sam Darnold, who's been struggling in general of late.

Since coming over in the trade from the New Orleans Saints, Shaheed has only caught four of 11 targets from Darnold (36.4% catch rate), totaling just 37 yards, one first down and no touchdowns. Darnold has consistently missed Shaheed on the deep ball attempts that were supposed to bring another element to this offense.

The Seahawks are still squeezing some juice out of Shaheed, both as a rusher and as a punt returner - but if he's not going to become a regular threat in the passing game then the trade to get him is going to go down as a bad move.

Even worse, the fourth and fifth-round picks that Seattle gave up for Shaheed will amount to getting only a half-year rental in return if they decide not to re-sign him.

Darnold and Shaheed should be getting all the extra reps in they possibly can, but their time may be running out. For the first time this season, last week an opponent managed to shut down Jaxon Smith-Njigba. If others can duplicate what the Vikings did, it will make Seattle's offense extremely limited until Darnold gets a real dynamic going with Shaheed - or another pass-catcher.

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