Steelers to sign Aaron Rodgers ‘favorite’ Marquez Valdes-Scantling to practice squad: Source – The Athletic
PITTSBURGH — With just over 24 hours until the NFL trade deadline, the Steelers took one step to address their wide receiver room. Veteran receiver Marquez Valdes-Scantling will be signed to Pittsburgh’s practice squad, according to a team source.
Valdes-Scantling, 31, has tallied 209 receptions for 3,606 yards and 20 touchdowns in his eight-year career. He also won two Super Bowls with the Chiefs. Beyond championship rings and stats, Valdes-Scantling also has plenty of familiarity with quarterback Aaron Rodgers.
From 2018 to 2021, Valdes-Scantling played four seasons alongside Rodgers in Green Bay. The receiver’s best season with the future Hall of Fame QB came in 2020, when Valdes-Scantling made 33 catches for 690 yards and six touchdowns. He also led the league with 20.9 yards per catch in 2020. Last week, after the Steelers worked out the veteran receiver, Rodgers spoke glowingly about his former teammate.
“I love MVS,” Rodgers said Wednesday. “I’ve always enjoyed playing with him. He’s one of my favorite teammates of all time. He is a really special guy, and I think MVS can still really play. You saw last year when he was in New Orleans, he had opportunities. He had a lot of big touchdowns. He can still run.”
To Rodgers’ point, Valdes-Scantling caught 17 passes for 385 yards and four touchdowns in eight games with the Saints in 2024. He also averaged 22.6 yards per reception in New Orleans. He signed a one-year contract with the Seattle Seahawks in March but was among the team’s final roster cuts at the end of training camp. Valdes-Scantling then joined the San Francisco 49ers’ practice squad in August and was promoted to the active roster before the start of the regular season, but was released on Oct. 18, one day after being placed on injured reserve with a calf injury. He appeared in five games for the 49ers, making four catches for 40 yards.
At 6-foot-4 and 206 pounds, Valdes-Scantling is a different body type than the smaller, speedy receivers currently complementing DK Metcalf. He’s a willing blocker and — at least at one point in his career — was able to stretch the field vertically with 4.37 speed. That said, he’s 31 years old and, over the last several weeks, was working his way back from a calf injury that ended his brief tenure with the 49ers.
While Valdes-Scantling will begin his time with the Steelers on the practice squad, a number of factors will shape how he fits with the team. Currently, Metcalf is clearly the No. 1 wide receiver. He leads the team in routes run (248), targets (47) and receptions (29). Behind him at receiver, Calvin Austin III has settled into the WR2 role. Even after missing two-and-a-half games with a shoulder injury, Austin is second among Steelers receivers with 157 routes, 29 targets and 19 receptions.
From there, the depth chart gets fuzzy. Roman Wilson (95 routes, 12 targets, nine receptions), Ben Skowronek (37 routes, three targets, two receptions) and Scotty Miller (36 routes, two targets and one reception) are the next three receivers, but they haven’t necessarily fallen into place in that order all season. In several games, Skowronek and Miller out-snapped Wilson. (Ke’Shawn Williams, who was signed to the active roster in Austin’s absence, is also in the conversation and earned most of his time as a returner).
One variable to consider is Miller broke his finger in the week leading up to the Week 8 matchup with the Green Bay Packers. While the injury has been repaired, Miller has yet to return to practice. Another key variable is Wilson. He had a breakthrough game against the Packers, catching four passes for 74 yards and his first NFL touchdown. However, he fumbled his one catch in the most recent game on Sunday. The Steelers will have to determine if they want to continue to develop Wilson with more in-game reps or if they favor Rodgers’ familiar target.
By adding depth and a different body type, this may lessen the need to give up draft capital in order to acquire another player at the position — at least to a degree. Still, given GM Omar Khan’s aggressive nature, the Valdes-Scantling signing likely won’t keep the Steelers from at least exploring other options. Now that the Steelers have injury insurance and more depth, they will have to decide if another receiver is an obvious upgrade over Austin and/or Wilson and if the price is right.
