Rashid Shaheed and the Top 10 In-Season Trades That Led to a Super Bowl Appearance

The NFL’s trade deadline, compared to most other professional sports, is still a fairly low-key event, but the few deals that are made each year are usually playoff contenders trying to add a missing piece to put them over the top. They don’t always immediately work out, see the Indianapolis Colts trading for star cornerback Sauce Gardner this year. But over history, you can certainly point to timely trades that not only helped teams get to the Super Bowl, but helped them win a championship as well. So, with the help of FOX Sports Research, we decided to look back at the 10 best in-season trades that led to a Super Bowl appearance in NFL history, as Rashid Shaheed has helped the Seattle Seahawks reach Super Bowl LX. 10. TE Vernon Davis to the Denver Broncos (2015) If you don’t remember this one, it’s OK. Davis had a great run with the 49ers (two seasons with 13 touchdown catches!) but midway through the 2015 season, they traded him to Denver for two sixth-round picks. This wasn’t the 55-touchdown season for Peyton Manning; this was the nine-touchdown season for Manning, where they largely won with their defense. Davis caught 20 passes for 201 yards and no touchdowns. He played in all three playoff games but never caught a pass and had only one target. He then finished his career with four years in Washington. 9. WR Kadarius Toney to the Kansas City Chiefs (2022) Toney was a first-round pick of the Giants who’d barely played in his second season when Kansas City sent a third- and sixth-round pick in the 2023 draft to acquire him. He had modest contributions in the regular season — three touchdowns — but saved his biggest impact for the fourth quarter of Super Bowl LVII. He caught a 5-yard touchdown pass for the lead in the fourth, then, after the ensuing drive, fielded an Eagles punt and returned it 65 yards to the 5-yard line to set up another touchdown. Two years later, he was out of the league at 25, but he picked the most important day of his career to make two game-changing plays. 8. WR Emmanuel Sanders to the San Francisco 49ers (2019) Sanders was playing for a 2-5 Broncos team when they traded him to the undefeated 49ers for a 2020 third-round and a pick swap, moving up from the fifth to the fourth round. Sanders had big games for San Francisco that year, logging 112 yards and a touchdown to beat the Cardinals, along with a 157-yard performance and a score to beat the Saints. He had a quiet Super Bowl, catching three passes for 38 yards. Down 24-20 with 1:40 left in the fourth quarter, he got open behind the Chiefs’ secondary, but Jimmy Garoppolo overthrew him and the 49ers would lose. Sanders moved on to the Saints and Bills for his final two seasons. 7. LB Kyle Van Noy to the New England Patriots (2016) Van Noy had just one sack in 2.5 years in Detroit, and the Lions traded him to the Patriots in 2016 for a meager pick swap — moving up from 239th pick to the 215th pick in the 2017 NFL Draft. where the Lions drafted a quarterback who never played a snap. Van Noy, who is still playing today, had seven tackles in the playoffs for New England that year and split a sack in the third quarter in the Super Bowl against the Falcons as the Patriots rallied from a 28-3 deficit to win a championship. 6. WR Rashid Shaheed to the Seattle Seahawks (2025) Seattle was already off to a 6-2 start when it traded fourth- and fifth-round picks in the 2026 draft to the Saints for receiver Rashid Shaheed, soon to be a free agent. The spark he’s given the Seahawks has been huge, earning Pro Bowl honors after being the only player in the league to return a punt and kickoff for touchdowns this season. Then he did it again in the playoffs, returning the opening kick against the 49ers 95 yards to set the tone for a 41-6 rout in the divisional round. He had two return touchdowns in three seasons with New Orleans, but three in a half-season with Seattle is another level. He’ll be a priority among Seattle’s free agents next month. 5. DE Chase Young to the San Francisco 49ers (2023) Young, a former No. 2 overall pick for Washington who had been limited by injuries, was acquired by San Francisco for a 2024 third-round pick. He was quiet during the regular season, getting 2.5 sacks in nine games, but came through in the Super Bowl, sacking Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes in the first quarter. San Francisco would end up losing to the Chiefs in overtime, and Young signed with the Saints in free agency. 4. RB Jay Ajayi to the Philadelphia Eagles (2017) Ajayi had made the Pro Bowl in 2016, rushing for 1,272 yards for the Dolphins, but midway through 2017, they traded him to the Eagles for a 2018 fourth-round pick. Ajayi combined with LeGarrette Blount for an effective 1-2 punch. Ajayi had a 46-yard touchdown in his Philadelphia debut, and was a workhorse in the playoffs, averaging 63 rushing yards in three playoff games. He had nine rushes for 57 yards in their Super Bowl LII victory over the Patriots. 3. OLB Von Miller to the Los Angeles Rams (2021) Miller had been to eight Pro Bowls and won a Super Bowl with the Broncos, but the Rams sent Denver second- and third-round picks in the 2022 draft to add an elite pass-rusher. He had five sacks in the last four games of the regular season, had one each in playoff wins over the Cardinals and Eagles, then stepped up biggest in the Super Bowl against the Bengals, with two sacks in the second half to set up a comeback win for the Rams. He was gone to Buffalo a month later, but his short time in Los Angeles included a Super Bowl win. 2. CB Mike Haynes to the Las Vegas Raiders (1983) Haynes is in the Pro Football Hall of Fame and had made six Pro Bowls with the Patriots, but he held out in 1983 and eventually was traded to the Raiders, netting a 1984 first- and 1985 second-round pick. Haynes would play seven seasons for the Raiders and make three more Pro Bowls. That first year, in an easy Super Bowl win over Washington, Haynes intercepted a Joe Theismann pass in the fourth quarter. 1. DE Fred Dean to the San Francisco 49ers (1981) Dean had made the Pro Bowl and was first-team All-Pro in 1980 with the Chargers, but was somehow making about $70,000 — less than his brother-in-law, a truck driver, he noted — and eventually was traded to San Francisco, which doubled his salary to $150,000. Dean had 12 sacks in 11 games with the 49ers in 1981, and he added another in their Super Bowl win over the Bengals that year. He played his final five seasons in San Francisco, getting four sacks in the 1984 playoffs on the way to another championship.