The NFL's Most Valuable Returners of 2025

Happy Monday everybody. Welcome back to the Gridiron Deep Dive, where I know, this is not the QB tier list.

I’ve had people asking me where the 2025 QB tier list is, and I promise it’s coming, but with the Hall of Fame game not very far in the distance, I understand I need to get on it. I haven’t forgotten about it, but a deep dive analysis on every QB season in the entire league takes time. Last year’s edition ran 25000 words, and if you know anything about the Gridiron Deep Dive, you know things don’t tend to get shorter year over year around here.

This is not the QB tier list, but for those who like ranking lists, this will be a fun one. There is no personal opinion here. It’s simply a ranking of the NFL’s full time returners in 2025, according to the aEPA metric I designed to grade returners before this season, which simply adjusts EPA to compare each return to the average return from a qualified returner, instead of the general league average return. For more detail on aEPA, and historical rankings, find them in the beneath article:

In the interest of full disclosure, I wrote this list months ago. Basically as soon as the season ended. It’s been sitting, completed, since before free agency, and as such, has become quite outdated. Within the article, there is plenty of free agency speculation, all of which has of course played itself out, so my apologies for that. I will insert editor’s notes on the outcome of free agency, where applicable. All the data on the players themselves remains current and accurate.

Without further ado, here is the list, ranking every full-time returner in 2025, by total aEPA.

32) Myles Price - Minnesota Vikings: -17.05 Total aEPA

57 Kickoff Returns: -0.199 aEPA/Play

42 Punt Returns: -0.136 aEPA/Play

Prior to 2025, nobody had returned any more than 92 total kicks, by NFLFastR’s definition (which differs from football reference’s, due to the inclusion of those that end in penalty) in any season in the 2020s. Under the new rules, Myles Price became the first to break that mark, and with all due respect to the young man, despite some clear athletic talents, he was poor at both kick and punt returning.

Myles is a good example of where more basic statistics can sometimes lie in the return game. Myles finished third in all purpose return yards in 2025, but fumbled the ball four times, on a Viking team that did not need any additional help to fail to score points. To offset this amount of negative plays, there needs to be a ton of explosiveness to go along with it, and although the eye test can easily fall in love with Myles Price, there were simply no explosive plays on the actual football field. This is not only the worst return season of 2025, but one of the bottom ten in the new millennium, and with the gulf in total aEPA between number 32 and number 31, you’ll quickly understand why.

31) Trevor Etienne - Carolina Panthers: -10.50 Total aEPA

34 Kickoff Returns: 0.005 aEPA/Play

28 Punt Returns: -0.381 aEPA/Play

Another team that did not need help to fail to score, and while Trevor Etienne was an acceptable kickoff returner for Carolina, he is held down by being by far the worst qualified punt returner in 2025.

It’s not historically bad. He wouldn’t have been the worst punt returner last year, but he did finish the season with a 39.2 percent success rate on punt return, with absolutely no explosiveness (longest return: 16 yards). That’s a terrible combo. Trevor, like most RBs, should stick to kick return. He’s much better there.

30) Jamal Agnew - Atlanta Falcons: -9.31 Total aEPA

30 Kickoff Returns: -0.044 aEPA/Play

23 Punt Returns: -0.347 aEPA/Play

Let us take this time to pay our respects to a great career.

Jamal Agnew is the best return specialist of the post-Cribbs-Hester era, but it’s over, putting up poor results before being cut midseason by the Falcons, and failing a physical trying to sign with Washington. He may be back, but he’ll never again be what he was in Detroit and Jacksonville.

Editor’s Note: Jamal Agnew is currently unsigned, as of the publication date. His NFL career is likely over.

29) Xavier Smith - Los Angeles Rams: -9.11 Total aEPA

54 Punt Returns: -0.169 aEPA/Play

Xavier Smith was a revelation on offence in the last part of the season for the Rams, and thank goodness for that, because if he graduates off the return team, it will be addition by subtraction. A 44 percent success rate with a longest return of only 32 yards is a very bad punt returner, and the more advanced aEPA/Play statistic does him no favours either.

28) Derius Davis - Los Angeles Chargers: -7.13 Total aEPA

22 Kickoff Returns: -0.354 aEPA/Play

29 Punt Returns: 0.022 aEPA/Play

There once was a time when Derius Davis was an All-Pro returner, but while he once was an elite punt returner with acceptable kickoff skills, he’s now an acceptable punt returner who is no longer suitable to use on kickoff return. I suspect he’ll get one more try in 2026, somewhere, in hopes he can bounce back as a punt returner, but his NFL career hangs on that thread, as Jim Harbaugh has completely removed him from the Charger offence.

Editor’s Note: The Chargers did not cut Derius Davis. He’ll at least be reporting for camp to try to be their returner again in 2026.

27) Nikko Remigio - Kansas City Chiefs: -6.20 Total aEPA

29 Kickoff Returns: -0.053 aEPA/Play

36 Punt Returns: -0.130 aEPA/Play

Remigio has the profile of a high success rate, low explosiveness type of guy. That type of player always works better on kickoff return, but the inherent issue is that Nikko produced a 42 percent success rate on punt return last year. When you’re a low explosiveness type of player, 42 percent success rate is not enough. 26 is also getting up there in age, in return specialist years. It’s possible we’ll see Nikko as a full season returner again, but I have my doubts.

26) KaVontae Turpin - Dallas Cowboys: -5.99 Total aEPA

69 Kickoff Returns: -0.050 aEPA/Play

21 Punt Returns: -0.121 aEPA/Play

Look at that kickoff return to punt return distribution.

That’s the Cowboy defence for you, on top of the fact that Turpin has never really been a good punt returner. In 2025 though, even the kickoff returns went south. In 2024, he was the NFL’s best kickoff returner, a rightful first team All-Pro. This season, he still made second team, but did not do anything on the field to deserve that placement. He did prove very effective as a situational receiver, which may give him a route to stay in the NFL, but the return ability in 2025 was gone, and at 29 years old (very old for a returner), it’s tough to forecast it coming back.

25) Ke’Shawn Williams - Pittsburgh Steelers/Cincinnati Bengals: -4.14 Total aEPA

26 Kickoff Returns: -0.032 aEPA/Play

26 Punt Returns: -0.127 aEPA/Play

If this were a tier list, we’d be in the second lowest tier now. We’re getting into the guys at this point who are fine if you just need somebody back there, and don’t expect them to create any real value. An undrafted rookie in 2025, Ke’Shawn Williams knows how to be a returner. He just can’t create the explosive play. It’s tough particularly to be a punt returner at the NFL level with that skillset.

24) Dylan Laube - Las Vegas Raiders: -2.57 Total aEPA

33 Kickoff Returns: -0.078 aEPA/Play

What an odd statistical profile. An astonishing 82 percent success rate, yet more than marginally negative aEPA/Play. His longest return on the whole season being 38 yards makes that profile a lot more sensical. RBs on kickoff return sometimes have this issue.

Dylan Laube is very good at the fundamentals of returning kicks. If only he had the physical skills.

23) Gunner Olszewski - New York Giants: -2.05 Total aEPA

26 Kickoff Returns: -0.066 aEPA/Play

36 Punt Returns: -0.010 aEPA/Play

Gunner has the best aEPA/Play punt return season of all time, a shocking 0.633 in 2020, but 2020 is a long time ago. He’s still serviceable five years on from that peak, but serviceable is all.

Editor’s Note: With a torn Achilles in the 2026 offseason, Gunner’s future in the NFL looks a lot more bleak than when I wrote this entry.

22) Gage Larvadain - Cleveland Browns: -1.37 Total aEPA

45 Punt Returns: -0.030 aEPA/Play

The Cleveland Browns really could’ve used an electric returner to help them steal some points. Instead, they had 60 percent success rate, negative aEPA/Play Gage Larvadain. It’s a very grounded punt return game, which on a winning team would be a compliment, but on the Cleveland Browns, was not what they needed.

21) Alex Bachman - Las Vegas Raiders: -0.33 Total aEPA

31 Punt Returns: -0.011 aEPA/Play

The Raiders’ punt returner is much the same as their kickoff returner. Fine, but fine is all, on a team that really needed better out of their special teams units.

20) Anthony Gould - Indianapolis Colts: -0.09 Total aEPA

25 Kickoff Returns: -0.011 aEPA/Play

20 Punt Returns: 0.010 aEPA/Play

How league average can you get?

2025 Anthony Gould is perhaps the most league average player I’ve ever seen, at any position.

19) Kenneth Gainwell - Pittsburgh Steelers: 0.04 Total aEPA

30 Kickoff Returns: 0.001 aEPA/Play

I’m surprised to find Kenneth on this list as all, as he was a full time offensive player, with 85 targets in the Pittsburgh pass game. On special teams, he’s rather typical as a RB on kick return. 80 percent success rate, with very close to zero aEPA/Play. Not much more to say,

18) Marvin Mims - Denver Broncos: 0.62 Total aEPA

27 Kickoff Returns: 0.006 aEPA/Play

54 Punt Returns: 0.009 aEPA/Play

2024’s first team All-Pro punt returner (inexplicably, over Kalif Raymond) had a rather large come down in 2025, but not enough to justify calling him poor. On punt return, his explosiveness (which he still has, no question) was tempered by a 48 percent success rate this year, and kickoff return has never been his specialty to begin with. On balance, he was fine. Is fine good enough to continue to risk a situationally useful offensive player on special teams? We’ll see moving forward.

Editor’s Note: No clarity on whether Marvin Mims will continue to return in 2026, because there is no clarity on whether or not he will remain a Bronco by September.

17) Kameron Johnson - Tampa Bay Buccaneers: 1.01 Total aEPA

27 Kickoff Returns: 0.022 aEPA/Play

41 Punt Returns: 0.010 aEPA/Play

Kameron overperforms his success rates on both kicks and punts, so he’s got some big play ability, but not enough to provide any real consistent value.

16) Greg Dortch - Arizona Cardinals: 1.31 Total aEPA

31 Kickoff Returns: -0.032 aEPA/Play

21 Punt Returns: 0.110 aEPA/Play

This is the first player we’ve seen on the list so far that’s good at anything. Dortch ranked 11th in aEPA/Play on punt return in 2025, so naturally, the Cardinals’ poor defence forced Greg into being used more on kickoff return, where he’s only 24th. If the Cardinals could’ve forced teams to punt more, with Greg returning the punts, it would’ve helped both on offence and defence.

15) Jacob Saylors - Detroit Lions: 1.88 Total aEPA

33 Kickoff Returns: 0.057 aEPA/Play

The Lions have been bringing in a rotating cast of guys for years to make up for their elite punt returner Kalif Raymond’s deficiencies on kickoff. Jacob Saylors, two time All-UFL RB, is the latest. He returned the ball like a RB (85 percent success rate, just 0.057 aEPA/Play), but all in all, he did okay. I wouldn’t mind seeing the combo of he and Raymond again next season.

Editor’s Note: Kalif Raymond went to the Bears, and Detroit brought in Greg Dortch to replace him, leaving the team with the provisional combo of Dortch on punts and Saylors on kicks. Not bad at all.

14) Parker Washington - Jacksonville Jaguars: 2.70 Total aEPA

39 Punt Returns: 0.069 aEPA/Play

Of all the men in the top 15 in punt return aEPA/Play, Parker’s 46 percent success rate is the very lowest, and only 2.7 total aEPA on punt return despite two TDs indicates he is not a very good fundamental returner, but he had that it that you look for in a punt returner, and it turns out, on offence too. In the second half of the season, he became a weapon as a receiver in the Jacksonville offence, so much so that I doubt we’ll see him in the return game any more moving forward.

Editor’s Note: I stand corrected. As of July 27, the Jaguars plan to continue allowing their best receiver in 2025 to return punts in the 2026 season. It’s a risky play for just a 0.069 aEPA/Play punt returner, if you ask me.

13) Rasheen Ali - Baltimore Ravens: 3.69 Total aEPA

30 Kickoff Returns: 0.123 aEPA/Play

Baltimore tried a million different punt returners last year, and qualified nobody. There is no Baltimore punt returner on this list, but they needed only one try to get the kick returner right. Another RB stat line (86 percent success rate, 0.123 aEPA/Play), but we’re getting closer and closer to the ideal RB returner.

12) Chimere Dike - Tennessee Titans: 5.82 Total aEPA

62 Kickoff Returns: -0.116 aEPA/Play

48 Punt Returns: 0.271 aEPA/Play

A prototypical punt returner.

I wouldn’t have named Chimere first team All-Pro punt returner myself (third in aEPA/Play on punt return, fourth in total aEPA), but failing to be the absolute best does not mean he wasn’t outstanding. He struggles on this list due to being held down in a way the other elite punt returners were not, by his struggles on kickoff. All the other elite punt return guys either got to return fewer kicks, were better at returning kicks, or both.

I strongly recommend the Titans try somebody else on kickoff next season, but on punt return, they have one of the best in the world.

11) Devin Duvernay - Chicago Bears: 6.00 Total aEPA

45 Kickoff Returns: 0.079 aEPA/Play

45 Punt Returns: 0.055 aEPA/Play

This is the dichotomy we face when trying to grade returners. Would you rather a player great at one thing, like Chimere Dike, who also forces your team into employing two different return specialists, or a man like Devin Duvernay, who is good but not great on both punt return and kickoff return, not giving you the peak ability, but compressing two returners into one roster spot?

Duvernay is a great fundamental punt returner, finishing second in the NFL in punt return success rate in 2025. However, his long is only 22 yards, and his aEPA/Play is only 0.055. By punt return standards, he struggles athletically, but on kick return, where athletic standards are a tad less important, he looks better. He comes out in the wash as being good but not top ten at both skills, which leaves him good but not top ten on this list.

Editor’s Note: Duvernay signed with the Cardinals in the 2026 offseason, to replace outgoing Greg Dortch.

10) Charlie Jones - Cincinnati Bengals: 7.58 Total aEPA

42 Kickoff Returns: 0.080 aEPA/Play

25 Punt Returns: 0.166 aEPA/Play

When I hear talk of the NFL’s best returners, I don’t tend to hear talk of Charlie Jones, but I cannot understand why. He’s seventh in aEPA/Play on punt return, and on kickoff return, he’s eighth. Perhaps this leaves him one level short of the true elites of the game, and unfortunately, he’s been struggling with an inability to finish seasons throughout his short NFL career so far (losing the last three games of 2025 to an ankle injury), but Charlie finds himself right at the top of the second tier of return specialists.

Editor’s Note: There is a battle for the Bengals’ return specialist spot between Charlie Jones and Ke’Shawn Williams. Only one will make the roster. I’m quite confident it will be Charlie.

9) Ray Davis - Buffalo Bills: 8.49 Total aEPA

40 Kickoff Returns: 0.212 aEPA/Play

The NFL’s best (non-Kene Nwangwu, who had injury problems and did not qualify this year) kickoff returner is so good that he manages to find himself ninth in overall return value, without a punt return to be seen.

One would think a 5’8”, 220 pound RB is not the ideal body type to be the league’s leader in aEPA on kick return, but Ray manages to combine that RB return style (75 percent success rate, and no fumbles) with some flash, including a big TD return against Houston, a game where the Bills were desperately in need of the points, plus big yards in the New England game that Buffalo won.

If Ray had been on special teams the whole season, with more than 40 returns, he would be nearer to the top of this list. He’s got that ability, and by the way, he played very well on offence too, in very limited sample as a backup RB behind James Cook, to the point where trade rumours are beginning to bubble under the surface. At the cost of only a fourth round pick in 2024, it appears the Bills have found themselves a weapon here.

Editor’s Note: No trade yet, although I think Ray Davis would slide into a bigger role perfectly fine, should there be one in the next couple months.

8) Kalif Raymond - Detroit Lions: 8.56 Total aEPA

45 Punt Returns: 0.190 aEPA/Play

Kalif Raymond is Chimere Dike, but unhindered by the constraint of having to pull double duty on kickoff return. He’s been one of the best punt returners in the game for a long time now, and despite his advanced age (32 in August), he has shown no signs of slowing.

That’s important, because Raymond is a returner that tends to rely on his athleticism a little bit more than most of the other top guys right now, but even as his role on offence has steadily declined over the years, his return ability appears to be holding strong. There is not a preponderance of 32 year old return specialists in the NFL, which I suspect will hurt his value in the free agent market, but if not Detroit, somebody will take a flyer on the man who has not as yet shown any evidence that he is anything less than one of the top punt returners available.

Editor’s Note: Kalif signed with the Bears in the 2026 offseason, for one year, $3.5M, a pay cut from his last Detroit contract.

6) Malik Washington - Miami Dolphins: 9.27 Total aEPA

36 Kickoff Returns: 0.095 aEPA/Play

31 Punt Returns: 0.188 aEPA/Play

Malik Washington stepped into a much bigger offensive role in 2025, with 65 targets, and absolutely was not ready for it. He was very poor as a receiver in 2025, basically matching his 2024 volume numbers on offence, despite almost double the target volume. As an offensive player, that’s a grave disappointment. On special teams however, he grew into a top flight player in year two, particularly on punt return.

On kickoff return, amongst all players in the top ten in aEPA/Play, Malik’s 72 percent success rate is the second lowest, better only than Charlie Jones, but his explosive plays (and only one fumble in 67 returns) help him out greatly there, and those same skills translate much better to punt return, putting him near the top of the ranks of the punt returners, despite a very low success rate there too.

Not a very good returner fundamentally, but he’s got the physical stuff to be elite at it, if he can ever figure out how to cut some the negative plays out of his game.

6) Isaiah Williams - New York Jets: 10.49 Total aEPA

28 Kickoff Returns: 0.232 aEPA/Play

40 Punt Returns: 0.100 aEPA/Play

Isaiah Williams is a feel good NFL story.

Cut by the Jets after fumbling twice in week two, he thought he would have to wait until 2026 for another chance to play. Instead, with injury to the league’s best kickoff returner (Kene Nwangwu), he was back on the Jets within weeks, and became one of the NFL’s best returners in his own right.

The flashy numbers come on punt return for Isaiah, with two TDs and 14.1 yards per return, for a Jets team that needed all the help it could get. However, the real value is on kickoff return, where Isaiah gave his team 0.232 aEPA/Play, best in the NFL amongst players with 20 kickoff returns or more. This has given the Jets the freedom to move on from uber-talented yet injury-prone Nwangwu, and stick with Isaiah moving forward, who hopefully can sew up their return spot, and provide important value to (in all likelihood) struggling Jets offences for years to come.

Editor’s Note: The Jets did not move on from Nwangwu, instead resigning him, for more money, despite Isaiah Williams’ performance. There is a legitimate chance the Jets have each of the two best kickoff returners in the NFL moving into next season, but they do know there’s only one ball, right?

5) Jaylin Noel - Houston Texans: 10.59 Total aEPA

35 Kickoff Returns: 0.062 aEPA/Play

63 Punt Returns: 0.134 aEPA/Play

Jaylin is an odd player to wedge himself into fifth place on a list like this. I wouldn’t say he’s as good a player as Isaiah Williams, or Kalif Raymond, or Ray Davis, or Charlie Jones, or even Chimere Dike, but this a total value list, and Jaylin did not struggle on kickoffs like Dike. He didn’t have to be sheltered from kickoffs altogether like Raymond, or punts like Davis. He was not cut midseason like Williams. He did not struggle with injuries like Charlie Jones, so in total value terms, he beats them all.

Was Jaylin great at anything? Hanging around the fringes of the top ten in aEPA/Play on both kicks and punts, no he wasn’t, but it’s hard to be good at both types of returns at once. On its own, that provides value, and allows the Texans to compress two roster spots into one returner.

Jaylin was solid but unspectacular, in each and every one of the 17 games of 2025. For a team like Houston, that’s all they needed. Jaylin helped the Texans generate more special teams EPA than their opponents on 12 of 17 occasions in 2025, in addition to how good that Houston team was on offence and defence. He did not make the Texans’ return game into a strength, necessarily, but he prevented it from being a weakness, on both types of kicks. That alone puts him in very rare company, near the top of this list.

4) Skyy Moore - San Francisco 49ers: 14.69 Total aEPA

37 Kickoff Returns: 0.195 aEPA/Play

37 Punt Returns: 0.202 aEPA/Play

We are officially into the ranks of the elite returners now, and I don’t know what they’ve got in the water in San Francisco, but they’ve found another gem here.

Kyle Shanahan is often noted for his offensive genius, but he appears to have the magic touch with special teamers as well. Skyy Moore was rarely used on return in his career in Kansas City, and was a disaster on the rare occasions the Chiefs tried it. In 2025, he shows up in San Francisco, and finishes the season ranking third in aEPA/Play amongst players with at least 20 returns on kickoff, and fifth in aEPA/Play on punt return.

In Skyy, we have another impending free agent, and his ability to compress a great punt returner and great kickoff returner into one body makes him difficult to replace. I’ve heard tales that the 49ers may be looking to let him go, and while he had been very bad as a returner prior to 2025, he was a weapon in 2025. For as cheap as pure returners usually come (almost certainly a pay cut for Skyy down from his second round rookie contract), I don’t think I would recommend that, especially because in Skyy Moore, you effectively get two very good returners for the price of one. He does use up a roster spot, as after four years, he appears to be entirely useless on offence, but you make one up one roster spot by not having to have an additional returner. I generally like players like this, but we will see moving forward.

Editor’s Note: Skyy has gone to the Green Bay Packers, on a one year, $2.5M contract. Roughly equal money to the final year of his rookie contract. I think this is a very good move, given no Packer returner qualified in 2025.

3) Jaylin Lane - Washington Commanders: 15.45 Total aEPA

32 Punt Returns: 0.483 aEPA/Play

Can you believe 2025 has two Jaylins in the top five in total return value?

The contrast between the two Jaylins is a good demonstration of the contrast within the return specialist position. Would you rather Jaylin Noel, who is good on both punt and kick return but great at nothing, or Jaylin Lane, who was the best aEPA/Play punt returner in the NFL in 2025, but has to be protected from kickoffs, necessitating a second rostered returner?

In Washington’s case, this question was very literal, as they carried Luke McCaffrey, who was rostered for his 26 kickoff returns much more than his 15 targets on offence, and Jaylin Lane, whose 32 punt returns were much more productive than his 32 pass targets.

If you add these two together, you get 47 targets, which is the work load of a full time receiver, but not a very good one. For all intents and purposes, this team had two return specialists on it, and while Jaylin was very good, scoring two TDs and leading the NFL in aEPA/Play on punt return, it did not work out so well for the Commanders, who were awful in 2025.

Nevertheless, you cannot simply elect not to use a player the likes of Jaylin Lane, who racked up the third most total return value in the NFL on just 32 punt returns. It’s a catch-22 that these teams find themselves in, similar to the one Kalif Raymond has been causing for years.

This is the type of player that you just have to waste a roster spot for. You never know when it may buy you a TD.

2) Marcus Jones - New England Patriots: 18.11 Total aEPA

50 Punt Returns: 0.362 aEPA/Play

In an era where the return game has been mostly confined to the RBs and WRs, more or less locking the DBs out, Marcus Jones is the last hope, keeping the idea of the DB returner alive, and what a hope he is.

He cannot compete with the per play value of Jaylin Lane, but Marcus’s top ten Patriot defence (which he also played a significant role on) got the league’s second best aEPA/Play punt returner 50 punts to return, compared to the porous Washington defence netting just 32 punt returns for Jaylin. That gets Marcus ahead on this list, and in my opinion, should’ve made him the first team All-Pro punt returner, with both more returns and more value per return than the AP’s pick, Chimere Dike.

Very rarely these days do we find a player like this, who is a significant defensive contributor (playing 71 percent of the snaps at nickel CB on a good Patriot defence), and also a significant offensive contributor, with 18.11 total aEPA on punt return. Normally, this punt return specialist would be a ‘waste’ of a roster spot, due to the need to employ a kickoff returner beside him, but as a legitimate nickel corner, that is not a worry in the case of Marcus Jones.

All of this tricks football reference’s Approximate Value (AV) statistic into believing that Marcus Jones was the second most valuable contributor on a Patriot team that won 14 games last year, behind only Drake Maye. I would not go that far, but 18.11 total aEPA of additional value on top of everything he does as a corner does make Marcus into a deceptively valuable player, the very last in a long line of Bill Belichick draft picks who consistently found odd ways to steal value like this.

Without doubt, in 2025, Marcus Jones was the best NFL player who was a returner, but when we’re trying to name the NFL’s best pure returner last year, there’s only one answer.

1) Rashid Shaheed - New Orleans Saints/Seattle Seahawks: 23.56 Total aEPA

19 Kickoff Returns: 0.595 aEPA/Play

61 Punt Returns: 0.201 aEPA/Play

What do we make of Rashid Shaheed?

There was a time, not so long ago, when it looked like he had the tools to be an elite receiver in the NFL. In 2025, coming off a meniscus injury, he did achieve a career high in targets on offence, but struggled as a receiver, either to due to the meniscus injury, increased volume, or both, ultimately culminating in the Saints trading him to Seattle for a couple of day three picks.

If he was brought in with intentions to aid Seattle’s struggling second half offence, he didn’t, and didn’t even turn out to be a starting receiver for the Seahawks, but on his new team, he continued to provide the value that only he can in the return game, ultimately ending up with the most valuable return season by total aEPA since Deonte Harris in 2019. Rashid’s 0.294 combined aEPA/Play on 80 total returns in 2025 is a feat that has been accomplished in the play-tracking era (1999-present) only by Brian Mitchell (2002), Dante Hall (2003), Devin Hester (2006, 2007), and Josh Cribbs (2007, 2009).

Shaheed is for real, and though he barely failed to qualify on kickoff return, finishing with 19, that’s where the real value was. We all remember his kickoff returns in the postseason, particularly the Super Bowl, but in the regular season, his 0.595 aEPA/Play was second amongst all players with multiple returns, behind only the previously mentioned (unassailable but injury prone) king of kickoff return, Kene Nwangwu, who had a completely ridiculous 0.739 in his 18 returns.

On punt return, Rashid was more mortal, finishing behind Jaylin Lane, Marcus Jones, and Chimere Dike in aEPA/Play terms, but playing for two good defensive teams in New Orleans and Seattle granted him the chance to touch the ball more times than all those guys, and more than a few times, he made the opponent pay.

At last, we’re also discussing our final impending free agent, who the Seahawks will have to be very careful handling. It will not be popular to let Rashid go, but we must all keep in mind he’s been getting steadily worse as an offensive player, so while he will ask for quite a bit of money, teams must be careful in their deliberations to actually give it to him or not.

Editor’s Note: Rashid resigned in Seattle for three years, and $34.7M guaranteed ($51M total), which is a risky move for a player who, despite flashing a lot of potential at a lot of different times on offence, has not actually been a starting receiver at the NFL level yet, with the exception of the first half of 2025, on a team that then traded him away after that first half. If all the Seahawks wanted was an elite returner, Skyy Moore was available at 20 percent of this cost, so Seattle evidently plans to use Rashid as more than the fourth receiver he was for them last season. That has the potential to blow up spectacularly, leaving them paying $17M per year for a fourth WR, but it also has the potential to work.

And now, we’ve reached the end, having ranked all the NFL’s full time returners last year by total aEPA. Thank you all for making it this far, and I promise once again, the QB list is coming just as soon as I can get it out.

PS. I would love to know you guys’ opinions on the Rashid Shaheed contract. He was with Seattle for more than half of last season, and netted 26 total targets with them. That’s a fourth receiver’s workload, yet they’ve paid him like a starter. The value in the return game helps, but Skyy Moore provides plenty of that also, and had to take basically the same money he’d been making on his rookie deal. I could look like a fool for this take as soon as one month into next season, if Seattle actually starts Rashid, and don’t regret it, but as of this moment, this is one of the most galling contracts in the NFL for me. Let me know what you think.

Leave a comment

Overall, thank you so much for reading, and I hope to be back next week with another piece. No ironclad promises yet though.