In the case of receiver Rashid Shaheed, it actually caused Seattle to take a U-turn and retain him. Initially, Schneider thought Shaheed would be gone, after he had dealt fourth- and fifth-round picks for the ex-Saint at the trade deadline to get him. In fact, one of the things he had taken from previous entries then written down after the season was, “Hey, we’re trying to get him back, we want him back, but it’s O.K. if we can’t do it.
“Don’t be super passionate about the [trade] compensation.”
But at the same time, Schneider had also jotted down all the different ways Shaheed had affected games down the stretch of the regular season, then into the playoffs, both on offense and on special teams. So as the receiver market settled, Schneider had resolved to stay loose, rather than just coming to terms with an impending departure and, to the surprise of some, worked out a three-year, $51 million deal with Shaheed.