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Don’t Forget MVS as Potential Piece at Receiver

A social media post of big-play highlights for Green Bay's offense provides a reminder of Valdes-Scantling's potential.
Bill Huber|
Don’t Forget MVS as Potential Piece at Receiver
Don’t Forget MVS as Potential Piece at Receiver

GREEN BAY, Wis. – The Green Bay Packers enter the offseason in dire need of a playmaker at receiver. The draft class is filled with speed while the free-agent talent pool is lacking.

What about Marquez Valdes-Scantling?

Valdes-Scantling was one of the biggest disappointments on the team. However, the first half of this video from the Packers shows his great potential. He had a 47-yard catch to set up a touchdown at Chicago in Week 1, a 40-yard touchdown vs. Denver in Week 3, a 46-yard catch vs. Detroit in Week 6 and catches of 59 yards and 74 yards (for a touchdown) in Week 7 against Oakland.

“He does have a great talent,” coach LaFleur said in December. “Shoot, he’s a guy that when he comes off the ball, he’s tough to defend, because he can run so well. So we have to make sure we put him in positions where he can use that to his advantage. You can’t coach or teach that speed.”

He suffered knee and ankle injuries in Week 6 against Detroit, then caught the aforementioned two passes for 133 yards six days later against Oakland. It was a show of toughness and athleticism that seemed to show his arrow was pointing straight up. Instead, it all fell apart. In the final nine regular-season games, he caught 5-of-19 passes for 36 yards. He played one snap in the NFC Championship Game.

“It’s all about getting opportunities again,” he said late in the season. “Going out there in practice and competing and going out and playing well in the games. It’s one of those things where you have to be ready when the opportunity comes back around. Other guys have stepped up and made plays and give them the credit. That’s where it’s at right now.”

For the season, Valdes-Scantling caught 26-of-56 passes (46.4 percent) for 452 yards and two touchdowns. At 6-foot-4 and with 4.37 speed in the 40, he has an elite combination of size and speed. Even in this tremendous class of prospects, there wasn’t a receiver at the Scouting Combine that could match the raw physical tools. In fact, of the 29 receivers who are 6-foot-1 or taller and ran a 40, none ran faster than Valdes-Scantling.

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Bill Huber
BILL HUBER

Bill Huber, who has covered the Green Bay Packers since 2008, is the publisher of Packers On SI, a Sports Illustrated channel. E-mail: packwriter2002@yahoo.com History: Huber took over Packer Central in August 2019. Twitter: https://twitter.com/BillHuberNFL Background: Huber graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, where he played on the football team, in 1995. He worked in newspapers in Reedsburg, Wisconsin Dells and Shawano before working at The Green Bay News-Chronicle and Green Bay Press-Gazette from 1998 through 2008. With The News-Chronicle, he won several awards for his commentaries and page design. In 2008, he took over as editor of Packer Report Magazine, which was founded by Hall of Fame linebacker Ray Nitschke, and PackerReport.com. In 2019, he took over the new Sports Illustrated site Packer Central, which he has grown into one of the largest sites in the Sports Illustrated Media Group.

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