Adam Shaheen (born October 24, 1994) is an American football tight end who is a free agent. He played college football at Ashland, and was drafted by the Chicago Bears in the second round of the 2017 NFL Draft. He is the highest draft pick from Ashland in the modern era of the NFL.
Early years
Shaheen attended Big Walnut High School in Sunbury, Ohio. He played football and basketball in high school.
College career
Shaheen played one year of college basketball at the University of Pittsburgh at Johnstown. In 2014, he transferred to Ashland University and joined the football team as a walk-on. During his career, he had 129 receptions for 1,755 yards and 26 touchdowns. After the 2016 season, Shaheen decided to forgo his senior year and enter the 2017 NFL Draft.
Professional career
Pre-draft
On January 5, 2017, it was announced that Shaheen would forgo his senior season and enter the 2017 NFL Draft. At the time of the announcement, he was ranked the 12th best tight end prospect in the draft by CBS Sports and NFLDraftScout.com. Shaheen was one of 19 tight ends invited to the NFL Scouting Combine in Indianapolis, Indiana. He fared well in the combine drills and tied Oregon's Pharaoh Brown for first in the bench press with 24 reps. Shaheen had his best performance during positional drills, showing his agility and receiving ability. He received a boost in his draft stock after he impressed scouts and team representatives with his performance in the positional drills.
Prior to the combine, Shaheen was a relatively unknown prospect out of Division II Ashland University. He received media attention after an interview at the combine where he was asked by a reporter how he gained 70 lbs. during college, with Shaheen responding, "Um, a lot of Chipotle burritos." He went on to reiterate, "In all honesty, it was a lot of burritos." The quote and story went on to be posted on websites by the Bleacher Report, New York Daily News, USA Today, and ESPN, with the New England Patriots' website donning him the "Chipotle Prospect". On March 22, 2017, Shaheen opted to participate at Ashland's Pro Day and chose to only run positional drills. Scouts and team representatives from 16 NFL teams attended, including tight end coaches from the Pittsburgh Steelers, Chicago Bears, New Orleans Saints, Oakland Raiders, and Detroit Lions. Shaheen had multiple visits and private workouts with NFL teams, including the Philadelphia Eagles, Cleveland Browns, Tennessee Titans, Arizona Cardinals, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and Dallas Cowboys. The majority of NFL draft experts and analysts projected him to be a second round pick. He was ranked the fourth best tight end prospect in the draft by NFLDraftScout.com and NFL analyst Mike Mayock and was ranked the fifth best tight end by ESPN.
Chicago Bears
The Chicago Bears selected Shaheen in the second round with the 45th overall pick in the 2017 NFL Draft. The Chicago Bears originally owned the 36th overall pick in the second round, but opted to trade the selection with their seventh round pick (221st overall) to the Arizona Cardinals and acquired their second round (45th), fourth round (119th overall), and sixth round picks (197th overall). Shaheen is the highest player to be selected from Ashland University. He joins Jeris Pendleton (2012), Bill Overmyer (1972), and Len Pettigrew (1971) as the only players to be drafted from Ashland.
2017
On May 19, 2017, the Chicago Bears signed Shaheen to a four-year, $5.91 million contract with $3.17 million guaranteed and a signing bonus of $2.43 million.
Throughout training camp, Shaheen competed against Daniel Brown and Ben Braunecker for the job as the third tight end on the depth chart. Head coach John Fox named Shaheen the third tight end on the Bears' depth chart to begin the regular season, behind veterans Zach Miller and Dion Sims.