With the Kansas City Chiefs looking to potentially trade All-Pro receiver Tyreek Hill, Green Bay Packers receiver Marquez Valdes-Scantling is headed to Kansas City for a free-agent visit, a source said on Wednesday in confirming national reports.
There is a good chance Valdes-Scantling will not come back.
According to ESPN.com’s Adam Schefter, Hill is “likely” to be traded to the New York Jets or Miami Dolphins. If that happens, the Chiefs would want a field-stretching receiver. That, of course, is Valdes-Scantling’s forte.
While Hill might be the fastest player in the game, Valdes-Scantling is no tortoise. At the 2018 Scouting Combine, he measured 6-foot-4 and ran his 40 in 4.37 seconds.
After leading the NFL with a 20.9-yard average in 2020 and a big-time training camp this past summer, expectations were high entering the season.
However, limited to 11 games (seven starts), he caught 26-of-55 passes (47.3 percent) for 430 yards (16.5 average) and three touchdowns. According to PFF, he had zero drops – a major leap forward in his game – but also didn’t break any tackles.
Last season marked the first time Valdes-Scantling missed games due to injury.
When the Packers traded Davante Adams to the Raiders last week, the logical next move seemed like re-signing Valdes-Scantling. When that didn’t happen immediately, the specter of Valdes-Scantling departing in free agency increased greatly.
From his vantage point, the fit in Kansas City would be excellent.
Over the last three seasons, Valdes-Scantling and Hill are tied for fifth in the NFL with 14 receptions of 40-plus yards. Hill is No. 11 with 11 touchdowns; Valdes-Scantling is tied for third with seven.
While Valdes-Scantling played more of a specialized role, the Chiefs made sure to get the ball to Hill early and often to take advantage of defensive backs who gave him an enormous amount of cushion to take away the long ball. That meant a lot of easy catches and yards after the catch.
Thus, in four seasons, Valdes-Scantling has 123 receptions for 2,153 yards (17.5 average), 13 touchdowns and a catch rate of 49.8 percent. Hill caught 111 passes last season alone. In six seasons, he has 479 receptions for 6,630 yards, 56 touchdowns and a 72.9 percent catch rate.
Aaron Rodgers is one of the best quarterbacks in NFL history and Valdes-Scantling is one of the best deep threats in the game. That didn’t always add up, though. On passes thrown 20-plus yards downfield last season, Valdes-Scantling caught only 6-of-22 (27.3 percent) with one touchdown compared to 9-of-30 (30.0 percent) and five touchdowns in 2020, according to Pro Football Focus.
On deep balls, Hill caught 9-of-25 (36.0 percent) with two touchdowns in 2021 and a spectacular 13-of-33 (39.4 percent) with eight touchdowns in 2020.
On deep passes last season, according to Pro Football Focus, Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes was 31-of-69 (44.9 percent), his 15.5 yards per attempt ranking sixth in the NFL. Rodgers was 27-of-69 (41.6 percent), his 13.6 yards per attempt tying for 13th.
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