Report: Chargers to meet with free agent Marquez-Valdes Scantling
Per Ari Meirov, the Chargers have a meeting lined up with free agent wideout Marquez-Valdes Scantling on Monday.
Source: Former #Chiefs WR Marquez Valdes-Scantling is scheduled to visit with the #Chargers on Monday.
LA has been seeking veteran receiver help and has had MVS on their radar for weeks. pic.twitter.com/GXRVUj6nSN
— Ari Meirov (@MySportsUpdate) May 5, 2024
The Chargers met with wideout Tyler Boyd last week before signing DJ Chark. Prior to the draft, Chark met with the team in Los Angeles, as well. Jeremy Fowler reported Los Angeles’ preliminary interest in Valdes-Scantling about a month ago.
The Chiefs cut their former Super Bowl winning wideout in Valdes-Scantling due to a cap crunch. Over the last two seasons in Kansas City, he had 63 receptions for over 1000 yards and three touchdowns.
Valdez-Scantling is still a burner deep threat and it’s clear the Chargers don’t necessarily have that skillset post-draft. While D.J. Chark will be more of your contested catch boundary receiver with some speed, the idea of MVS on the Chargers feels like a Jalen Guyton replacement more than anything else.
For his regular season career, Valdes-Scantling’s drop rate is around 10%. He was infamously on the receiving end of some backlash after his drop vs. Philadelphia last season.
However, the drop problem seems slightly overstated when looking at the data. Valdes-Scantling had a 12.5% drop rate last year with three dropped targets. But combining his 2021 and 2022 campaigns, Valdes-Scantling had just an average drop rate of 5.3% between seasons, with five drops in total. On 38 postseason targets, he has zero drops in his career.
It’s clear that there is a skillset that the savvy veteran can still provide. After acquiring four non-UDFA receivers this offseason, will the Chargers make it five? Time will tell, but that would be rather stiff competition for everyone on the roster.
