Bills sign wide receiver who won back-to-back Super Bowls with Chiefs: What to know
Brandon Beane said that no one should expect the Buffalo Bills to make any big moves between the end of the NFL Draft and the start of training camp.
But the signing of wide receiver Marquez Valdes-Scantling Tuesday morning qualifies as, at the very least, an interesting move.
Adam Schefter reported that Valdes-Scantling will receive a $1.25 million signing bonus and the one-year deal could be worth up to $4.5 million.
Valdes-Scantling is by no means a star in the NFL, but the 29-year-old is going into his seventh NFL season and if nothing else, brings some deep speed to a Buffalo receiver corps that needs it.
Valdes-Scantling was originally a fifth-round pick of the Packers in 2018 so he worked his first four seasons with Aaron Rodgers as his quarterback. With the Packers he caught 123 passes for 2,153 yards and 16 TDs, and in 2020 he led the NFL with a 20.9 yards per catch average.
He moved on to the Chiefs and played with Patrick Mahomes where he won back-to-back Super Bowls in 2022 and 2023. He caught 63 passes for 1,002 yards and 1 TD with Kansas City those two years, and last January in the Chiefs’ 27-24 divisional round victory over the Bills he had two catches for 62 yards. He also had a touchdown reception in the Chiefs’ Super Bowl victory over the 49ers.
During the regular season in 2023, Valdes-Scantling played 802 snaps counting the postseason, and 578 of those were on the outside and 220 from the slot. However, Pro Football Focus did not look kindly on his performance as he received his worst season grades of his career from the analytic site.
One of the big issues was his 9.4 drop percentage which was slightly above his career 9.1 drop percentage. Those are obviously troubling numbers, as is his 50.3% catch percentage, 186 career catches on 370 targets for 3,155 yards.
MVS will now get to catch passes from another superstar quarterback, Josh Allen. He’ll join a big battle for roster spots behind Khalil Shakir, Curtis Samuel and Keon Coleman. He’ll be in an interesting mix along with Chase Claypool, Justin Shorter, K.J. Hamler, Mack Hollins and Tyrell Shavers.
Without question, the wide receiver position will be the most fascinating when the Bills arrive at St. John Fisher University.
▶ The Bills made an interesting hire on Monday as they will be bringing in former NFL referee and ESPN rules analyst John Parry to serve as an officiating liaison. In essence, on game day, Parry will be the Bills’ eye in the sky when it comes to deciding whether to challenge calls via instant replay.
Bills coach Sean McDermott has had a poor record on replay challenges since he made his debut in 2017. Last year he went 3-for-6, but overall he is 10-for-33 and that’s simply not good enough.
“There’s so much on the shoulders of coaches as it pertains specifically to replay because it’s grown so much, and it is complicated,” Parry said in an interview with Football Zebras. “It’s hard to keep all of that data straight.”
Sal Maiorana can be reached at maiorana@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter @salmaiorana. To subscribe to Sal's newsletter, Bills Blast, which comes out every other Friday during the offseason, please follow this link: https://profile.democratandchronicle.com/newsletters/bills-blast
This article originally appeared on Rochester Democrat and Chronicle: Marquez Valdes-Scantling signs with Buffalo Bills to boost WR group
