Saints Free Agency: Not landing Marquez Valdes-Scantling might be blessing in disguise
While Saints free agency has been pretty slow for the most part, the New Orleans Saints have been close to adding some players who could have improved their offense. The latest player they missed out on was wide receiver Marquez Valdes-Scantling, who, yes, could have helped out on offense but missing out on him isn’t the end of the world.
Valdes-Scantling was a fifth-round pick by the Packers in the 2018 NFL Draft and was a decent weapon in Green Bay for Aaron Rodgers. Playing with Rodgers certainly helped prop him up when he entered free agency for the first time in his career but the fact of the matter is that Valdes-Scantling wouldn’t have been the right addition for the NOLA offense.
The former South Florida product mentioned during his first press conference as a member of the Kansas City Chiefs that the Saints were indeed in the running to land him. He ultimately picked the Chiefs and signed a three-year deal with Kansas City.
WR Marquez Valdes-Scantling said his top three choices in free agency were the Saints, Packers and Chiefs.
— Herbie Teope (@HerbieTeope) March 25, 2022
Saints Free Agency: Marquez Valdes-Scantling wasn’t worth bringing in
While some Saints fans would have been fine with the team adding the former Packer, let’s look at his numbers throughout his four-year career.
- 2018 – 38 rec, 581 yards, 2 TD
- 2019 – 26 rec, 452 yards, 2 TD
- 2020 – 33 rec, 690 yards, 6 TD
- 2021 – 26 rec, 430 yards, 3 TD
This past season, Valdes-Scantling wouldn’t have even had the top numbers for the offense. He also missed six games due to injury, which is another thing to worry about when it comes to Rodgers’ former target.
What would have worried me the most about adding Valdes-Scantling, however, is that it might have prevented New Orleans from being more aggressive about adding another wide receiver. Maybe they don’t make the position a priority in the draft because they’d figure that Michael Thomas and Valdes-Scantling would be the WR1/2 and then Marquez Callaway would be the third man on the depth chart.
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It’s been frustrating that the team hasn’t added much help on offense outside of Jameis Winston but Marquez Valdes-Scantling wouldn’t have been the answer.