Adam Shaheen

BIOGRAPHY

Adam Shaheen was born on October 24th, 1994, in Galena, Ohio. He is a tight end for the Chicago Bears in the NFL. 

Adam 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. 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. Shaheen opted to participate at Ashland's Pro Day and chose only to 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.

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. Shaheen made his professional regular-season debut in the Chicago Bears' season-opening 23–17 loss to the Atlanta Falcons. On September 24, 2017, Shaheen made his first career start and caught the first pass of his career on a two-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Mike Glennon during their 23–17 overtime victory.

His first career touchdown reception came in the second quarter as Shaheen was left wide open on a blown coverage by the Steelers. Throughout the first seven regular-season games, Shaheen was predominantly used as a blocking tight end in two and three tight end sets.  In Week 11, he made his third consecutive start and caught a season-high four passes for 41-yards and caught a one-yard touchdown pass from Mitchell Trubisky during the Bears' 27-24 loss to the Detroit Lions. On December 10, 2017, Shaheen caught four passes for a season-high 44 receiving yards and scored on a one-yard touchdown reception during Chicago's 33–7 routing of the Cincinnati Bengals.

In 2018, Shaheen was slated to be the Bears starting tight end. However, in the team's second preseason game, Shaheen suffered a sprained ankle and foot. He was placed on injured reserve on September 2, 2018 with the possibility of returning later in the season. He was activated off injured reserve on November 17, 2018. Playing in six games, he recorded five catches for 48 yards and a touchdown. Shaheen entered the 2019 season second on the Bears tight end depth chart behind Trey Burton. He was placed on injured reserve on November 30, 2019. He finished the season with nine catches for 74 yards and no touchdowns. On July 26, 2020, Shaheen was traded to the Miami Dolphins for a conditional seventh-round pick. In Week 5 against the San Francisco 49ers, he recorded his first touchdown as a Dolphin in the 43–17 victory. On October 28, 2020, Shaheen signed a two-year, $7.65 million contract extension with the Dolphins.