Getty Kansas City Chiefs wide receiver Marquez Valdes-Scantling (left) chats with quarterback Patrick Mahomes II (right).
The spring is over and gone are the days when Kansas City Chiefs wide receiver Marquez Valdes-Scantling dominates practices as Patrick Mahomes’ favorite target.
Instead, the 2022 signing has gotten off to a slow start during his first season with the Chiefs and some outside observers are beginning to get restless as Justin Watson and Skyy Moore flash in brief moments. “MVS” only has 105 yards off 18 targets (10 receptions), while weapons like Watson and Moore average 25 to 30 yards per catch off very few opportunities.
Based on his early-season production, one NFL analyst even called for the veteran wideout’s benching on September 28.
Chiefs Called on to Bench WR Marquez Valdes-Scantling
Bleacher Report’s Alex Ballentine highlighted Valdes-Scantling as a player that the Chiefs should “bench ASAP.”
“It’s clear the Kansas City Chiefs offense is still figuring out how to best utilize its wide receivers in a post-Tyreek Hill world,” Ballentine began. “Thus far, the answer is not feeding targets to Marquez Valdes-Scantling.”
The analyst continued on, reasoning that while MVS was brought in to be the deep threat to JuJu Smith-Schuster’s possession game, he has not delivered on his role in the offense so far.
“He hasn’t done much to strike fear in the hearts of secondaries,” Ballentine voiced. “At this point, Valdes-Scantling is the least efficient of the Chiefs receivers. He’s averaged just 5.8 yards per target and hasn’t seemed to build the kind of rapport and chemistry with Patrick Mahomes. Instead, familiar face Mecole Hardman has been the best deep threat. He has an average depth of target of 11.7, and Mahomes has a quarterback rating of 110.8 when targeting him. That rating plummets to 72.7 when looking MVS’s way.”
In the end, Ballentine concluded that because “both Justin Watson and Skyy Moore have made plays in limited opportunities… It’s time to start increasing their roles as the Chiefs’ offense continues to evolve.”
Should the Chiefs Phase out MVS so Soon?
As we mentioned the other day, one loss doesn’t mean the sky is falling and starters need to immediately be benched, but minimizing Valdes-Scantling’s role in an effort to get Watson and Moore on the field more often does make some sense.
No one is saying phase MVS out of the offense completely — well, besides Ballentine perhaps — but he’s clearly not the most dynamic playmaker at Kansas City’s disposal. Valdes-Scantling has size and height but he lacks the explosiveness and separation of a Hardman or a Moore.
Obviously, the rookie will get more snaps as the season goes along. That is a guarantee, given his draft status and potential. It feels like the coaching staff is just choosing to ease him in for now.
After missing a good chunk of Organized Team Activities (OTAs), Moore always seemed like he was a step behind in the playbook and the scheme. Having said that, his natural ability still jumped off the tape at every turn this summer.
The precision route-running, impeccable hands, and smooth agility provide a lot to be excited about with the Western Michigan product in the future. It will take some time, however, and veterans like Smith-Schuster and Valdes-Scantling were smartly brought in to help bridge any sort of gap that might occur with the prospect they ended up drafting.
That young man turned into Moore and it’ll certainly be exciting to see how head coach Andy Reid and offensive coordinator Eric Bieniemy work him in as the 2022 campaign progresses. If he’s not ready in Week 4, Watson has done enough to earn some more snaps against his former team down in Tampa Bay.