A hulking giant with vicegrip hands and a basketball background has been added to the Houston Texans. Late Tuesday afternoon, Nick Caserio completed a trade with the Miami Dolphins, adding Adam Shaheen to bolster the Texans tight end depth.
Make no mistake, Pharaoh Brown and Brevin Jordan should hold down the starting jobs as both have achieved strong camps so far. However, after injuries struck tight end Antony Auclair and rookie sixth-round pick Teagan Quitoriano, Houston’s depth at an important offensive position looked bleak.
To solve the problem, Caserio sent a 2023 sixth-round pick for a 2023 seventh-round pick and Shaheen. The former all-conference basketball player and Chicago Bears’ second-round pick in 2017 is now on his third team in six years.
The million dollar question becomes, what has Shaheen shown in his previous stints with the Bears and Miami Dolphins and how can he contribute to the Texans? The answer lies in Shaheen’s film.
Shaheen in the passing game
The Texans are hoping to make the tight end position a focal point of Pep Hamilton’s passing offense and Shaheen offers two intriguing traits here – his hulking size and dependable hands.
Thanks to his six-foot-six frame (86th percentile) and 33 1/2″ arms (68th percentile), Shaheen offers his quarterback a wide catch radius to throw the ball to.
As a receiver, Shaheen’s greatest value comes in the red zone, where he has seven career touchdowns – three of which came as a rookie in Chicago and another three in his first year in Miami.
Shaheen (87) is lined up to the right of the RT again and catches a nice TD pass from Trubisky.
I'm only one game in but it's clear that Shaheen's hands are a strength of his and his 6'7 frame is an asset, especially in the red zone. #Texans could definitely benefit from that. pic.twitter.com/ahSbC4Siwe
— Jordan Pun (@Texans_Thoughts) August 9, 2022
As the above clips display, Shaheen has a knack for extending his arms and catching the ball outside of his frame. The Bears were wise to target Shaheen in the end zone when he was matched up with a linebacker – the Texans can do the same.
Outside of goal line situations, Shaheen showed he’s comfortable operating in the middle of the field and securing low, errant passes or contested ones.
The ability to be a safety blanket over the middle of the field is all offenses can really ask for out of their backup tight end and Shaheen offers just that. His dependable hands and large catch radius will give sophomore quarterback Davis Mills more room for error accuracy wise.
It remains to be seen how dynamic Shaheen can be as a receiver and if he can stretch defenses downfield consistently. His average yards per reception throughout his career is just 10.2, with a career high of 12.5 in 2020.
That being said, Shaheen has played in some pretty dysfunctional offenses led by Dowell Loggains (2017) and Matt Nagy (2018+2019) in Chicago, plus Chan Gailey (2020) and George Godsey (2021) in Miami – all of which who have been fired from their roles and are not offensive coordinators anywhere in the NFL.
In addition, Shaheen has not had the benefit of playing with very proven or talented quarterbacks throughout his five year career. Signal callers Mitch Trubisky and Tua Tagovailoa – the QBs who Shaheen has had the most game reps with – are not known for throwing the ball downfield.
Adam Shaheen’s QBs:
– Rookie to Junior Mitch Trubisky
– Mike Glennon
– Chase Daniel
– Rookie and Sophomore Tua Tagovailoa
– Ryan Fitzpatrick
– Jacoby BrissettAnd now, Davis Mills
— Jordan Pun (@Texans_Thoughts) August 10, 2022
Could a fresh start in Houston and an improving Davis Mills be the answer to finally unlock Shaheen and create consistent production? Only time will tell.
Before moving onto Shaheen’s capabilities as a run blocker, the stats show that he is an okay pass protector. In his two seasons with the Dolphins, per Sports Info Solutions DataHub, Shaheen had 52 pass blocking snaps in 2020 and blew one block, leading to a blown block percentage of just 1.9%.
Furthermore, in 2021, Shaheen had 59 pass blocking snaps and blew two blocks, one of which did result in a sack and he finished with a blown block percentage of 3.4%. The sample size is small, but the stats are encouraging nonetheless.
Watching every play of Shaheen’s film can help make up for the issue of small sample size and provide a more accurate illustration of his blocking capabilities.
The below clip is from the 2020 season and illustrates why the Texans should not ask Shaheen to block a defensive end one-on-one. The Dolphins leave their tight end on an island like he is a left tackle, and Shaheen (#80) gets bull rushed backwards and into quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick (#14) as a result.
All in all, Shaheen offers dependable hands in contested scenarios, is comfortable operating in the short/intermediate middle area of the field, can be an asset in the red zone but should not be asked to pass protect one-on-one versus a defensive end.
Shaheen in the running game
Moving onto the other responsibilities the Texans will ask out of Shaheen, how does he block in the run game? Unfortunately, Shaheen drastically underwhelmed as a blocker.
One would expect that a six-foot-six, 257 pound player would be able to physically impose his will on defenders but that was rarely the case when watching his film from 2017 to 2021.
In Shaheen’s scouting report back in 2017, NFL analyst Lance Zierlien put it the best, stating, “he’s a pass catching tight end in a Y-tight end’s body”. Although Shaheen knows how to use his size when catching contested passes, he lacks the functionality to apply it to blocking opponents.
The biggest issue is that Shaheen has mediocre play strength when blocking defenders one-on-one and rarely creates push past the line of scrimmage. This issue is caused by his natural leverage disadvantage – his height limits his ability to get low and move defenders.
Another indicator of Shaheen’s underwhelming blocking was that he struggled versus better competition. In Miami’s 2021 matchup with the Houston Texans, Shaheen often had the task of blocking defensive end Jonathan Greenard – it did not end nicely.
Watching players you haven't seen before vs your favorite team is a good test of talent. On this run play from 2021, Adam Shaheen (80) gets tossed aside by #Texans Jonathan Greenard (52).
For someone of his size, I have not been impressed by Shaheen's run blocking. pic.twitter.com/gZ8sr03qsc
— Jordan Pun (@Texans_Thoughts) August 10, 2022
To put it simply, asking Shaheen to block an above average starting defensive end will not go well for Houston. This conclusion means expecting Shaheen to magically produce at the level of a starter would be overly optimistic and that he should be properly slotted as a backup.
To Shaheen’s credit, the fifth-year pro rarely completely whiffs on blocks – he had just two blown blocks on 181 run blocking snaps in 2020 and just one blown block on 146 run blocking snaps in 2021, per SIS DataHub
As someone who will rarely make glaring mistakes, Shaheen knows how to get in the way and use his body as a shield. Unfortunately, when solo blocking defensive ends, he’s just not going to individually pave lanes for running backs.
This observation does not make Shaheen useless to the Texans, they just need to know how to utilize him. As a backup tight end, his expectations and responsibilities should be limited anyways.
It’s clear that Shaheen struggles to pass protect and run block when he’s left on an island versus defensive ends, so don’t ask him to do that. Instead, Shaheen’s best blocking usage appears to be when executing double teams, a necessary block in the Texans – and any – run scheme.
In addition, while Shaheen lacks the play strength to be an asset as a solo blocker for a power run scheme, his ability to be in the right place at the right time when positioning blocks, makes him more useful on zone runs.
The above clips display that Shaheen has the short-area quickness to make reach blocks on linebackers. Additionally, when the offense is running split-zone, he can come across the backfield and get in the way of an unblocked defensive end.
This niche skillset that Shaheen offers provides the Texans another option at tight end to allow them to diversify their running scheme by calling more zone runs.
In conclusion, Shaheen has shown flashes throughout his career with the Bears and Dolphins. He’s struggled to stay healthy (missed 25 games in 5 seasons) and produce consistently, but offers dependable hands and a large catch radius, making him a red zone threat.
While he does not make too many glaring mistakes as a pass or run blocker, he is quite underwhelming in both aspects, especially considering the potential physical dominance his size would entail.
The Texans have added what looks like a decent backup tight end to spell Pharaoh Brown and Brevin Jordan. Perhaps this is a move around the margins that Nick Caserio has gotten correct, although it is ultimately likely a low impact move.
