Valdes-Scantling looks to make bigger impact in first year with Chiefs
Jun. 10—Nearly three months since his signing, Marquez Valdes-Scantling is embracing his new role in the Kansas City Chiefs' offense.
"Obviously, I'm here for a reason and I want to make the best of that opportunity," said Valdes-Scantling.
The fifth-year wide receiver from South Florida signed a 3-year, $30 million contract with the Chiefs back in March. He'll also be one of the few starting receivers who isn't on the last year of a contract with the team.
Head coach Andy Reid chimed in on Valdes-Scantling on Thursday after OTAs. Despite being viewed as mostly a deep threat during his stint in Green Bay, Reid has seen the expanded route tree within his game.
"He's able to work some of the primary underneath routes that he maybe didn't do quite as much in Green Bay because of who they had there," Reid said. "I've been pleased, he's a very very smart kid. He's doing a nice job for us, working hard."
Valdez-Scantling spent the first four years of his career in Green Bay catching passes from reigning back-to-back MVP quarterback Aaron Rodgers. The Packers never saw the receiver's numbers reach over 700 receiving yards in a single season despite having played three full seasons until last year when he missed six games.
"Not necessarily saying I was limited in Green Bay, but we had specific roles that we did. When I was there, we were a pretty good offense for my four years, so it worked," said Valdes-Scantling. "And we won a lot of football games, so you can't really complain when you're winning."
As far as making the transition from playing with Rodgers to now Patrick Mahomes, Valdez-Scantling feels there's plenty of similarities between the two.
"They're both the best quarterbacks to ever play the game. There's not much difference, one's just a little bit older," said Valdez-Scantling.
Valdes-Scantling wasted no time getting acclimated with his new teammates once he was signed to the Chiefs. He spent time time with quarterback Patrick Mahomes, roughly two to three weeks, this past April down in Texas. The two worked on route running and pass catching along with some of his other new teammates. But, he felt it was outside of football where he benefitted the most from in his time in the Lone Star State.
"Football is football. Everybody can get out there and run some routes and catch some footballs, but just being able to interact on a personal level and not just talk about football, but to go out to dinner, go out to lunch and kind of see what these guys are like. Being able to make new friends, I think that was the most important," said Valdes-Scantling.
Notes
The Chiefs finish up OTAs this week and begin mandatory minicamp next week. left tackle Orlando Brown Jr. has yet to sign a long-term deal with the Chiefs, but Reid is optimistic that deal will be done soon. Wide receiver Mecole Hardman has yet to be seen at OTAs and Reid says the fourth-year receiver is dealing with a hamstring issue.
Jacob Meikel can be reached at jacob.meikel@newspressnow.com.
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