Tag: Marquez Valdes-Scantling

Is now the right time for the Saints to sign Odell Beckham Jr.?

Odell Beckham Jr. has flirted with the Saints before, saying they were the right team at the wrong time. Now that he’s been waived again, should they bring him in?

Odell Beckham Jr. has flirted with the New Orleans Saints before, saying they were the right team at the wrong time for him. Now that he’s being waived by the Miami Dolphins, should his hometown team bring him in?

It’s tough to see them meeting his criteria. Beckham wants a larger role than he’s had on the Dolphins (12 targets and 9 catches for 55 yards across 9 games), which the Saints could offer him given all their injuries at the position. But if he wants to join a playoff contender, that’s not where New Orleans stands at 5-8. Teams he’s played for in the past like the Los Angeles Rams and Baltimore Ravens are both in the thick of the playoff race and those reunions might be more appealing.

Here’s where it gets tricky. Beckham is going on waivers like every other veteran this time of the year. That means he won’t have his choice of teams as a free agent unless he clears the waiver wire. A team that claims him (like the Saints) would be on the hook for about $200,000 for the final four games which easily fits under the salary cap. He isn’t really in a position to protest a landing spot given his low numbers this year, especially if the reason he sought a release from Miami was more targets on another team.

Let’s keep it real: Beckham isn’t the same player he once was. He’s 32 and hasn’t averaged even 50 yards per game since 2019. But the Saints need more help at receiver and it doesn’t seem like Chris Olave or Rashid Shaheed are coming back any time soon. Marquez Valdes-Scantling has had success since joining the Saints (he currently leads the team with four touchdown catches this season, in just five games), so maybe Beckham could see a resurgence, too. You just have to wonder what his other goals are and whether he has any interest ending the year on a team dealing with instability at quarterback.

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New Orleans Saints WR predicted to have a monster game in Week 14

This NFL writer’s bold prediction is that Marquez Valdes-Scantling will pull off something he’s never done before against the Giants:

Marquez Valdes-Scantling has overproduced in a way since joining the New Orleans Saints. He was brought in for one purpose, give Derek Carr another deep threat after Rashid Shaheed went out for the season with injury. Valdes-Scantling has done that.

As the Saints prepare to take on the New York Giants, Michael F. Florio compared the production of Valdes-Scantling and Shaheed as he made a bold prediction. Florio believes Valdes-Scantling will catch two touchdowns of more than 50 yards.

Shaheed caught three passes that traveled over 20 yards in the air. Those three catches resulted in 172 yards and three touchdowns. Valdes-Scantling has caught the same amount of passes for 135 yards and two scores. That’s slightly less yards and one less touchdown, but comparable production.

Being a step below Shaheed still makes Valdes-Scantling a solid deep threat. The Giants have allowed the highest completion percentage on throws over 20 yards.

This is a great set of circumstances for the Saints. Two fifty-yard touchdowns is certainly bold, but the Giants allowing completions on 70 percent of deep targets at least suggests New Orleans can stretch the field consistently. It’ll be on Valdes-Scantling to make the most of those opportunities and on Carr to get him the ball.

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Marquez Valdes-Scantling kept his touchdowns streak alive in Week 13

Marquez Valdes-Scantling has been effective in stretching the field, and his deep touchdown led to the Saints tying the game against the Rams:

It took Marquez Valdes-Scantling a game to get adjusted to being a part of the New Orleans Saints offense. After that first week, Valdes-Scantling has been everything the Saints desired from him.

The Saints wide receiver room is empty in general, but Valdes-Scantling was brought in to specifically replace Rashid Shaheed’s ability to stretch the field. Mission accomplished. Over the last three weeks, the in-season addition has caught four touchdowns and three of them have been longer than 25 yards. Valdes-Scantling is the second player in Saints history to score four touchdowns in his first four games, joining Donte Stallworth.

Against the Los Angeles Rams, Derek Carr connected with Valdes-Scantling early in the fourth quarter for a 28-yard touchdown. This continued the trend of Carr targeting his new wide receiver on vertical routes.

The Saints followed up the touchdown with a two-point conversion to tie the game at 14 points. Valdes-Scantling has become the field-stretcher the team desperately needed after injuries sidelined Shaheed and Chris Olave. Carr wants to throw the ball deep and Valdes-Scantling gives him a reliable target.

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Consistency must be the theme of the Saints bye week

The New Orleans Saints passing attack has been highlighted by big plays, but they need consistency. They must pick up where they left off after the bye week:

It has been said that winning masks everything. The New Orleans Saints can’t allow that to be the case as they enter the bye week. Despite being on a two game winning streak, there’s still a lot of work to do.

The last two games may have each gone the Saints’ way, but they’re still 4-7. Teams with seven losses through 11 weeks need work, and New Orleans is no exception.

A high focus should be on developing a better connection between Derek Carr and his receivers, even without Chris Olave and Rashid Shaheed. Alvin Kamara is dependable on the ground and he draws a ton of targets on checkdowns, but the passing attack is streaky. Veteran wide receiver Marquez Valdes-Scantling has had a few splash plays, but he hasn’t been a consistent feature through the air. The Cleveland Browns took him out of the game plan in the second half last Sunday.

The passing attack was highlighted by stretching the field with Shaheed as well, but Olave had the ability to help march the ball down the field. New Orleans has to figure out who will play that role.

Juwan Johnson, Foster Moreau and the tight ends feel like a group that could fulfill that need. The inconsistencies passing the football at the intermediate level have led to the offense stalling for long periods.

That’s one negative that hasn’t disappeared despite the different results.

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WATCH: Marquez Valdes-Scantling scores on the Saints’ longest play of the year

Marquez Valdes-Scantling scored on the Saints’ longest play of the year, finding the end zone for the third time in three games:


Man…

Marquez Valdes-Scantling surprises us yet again for a second straight week with a huge 71-yard touchdown on a catch-and-run from Carr. It was the longest gain of the New Orleans Saints’ season after Rashid Shaheed had a 70-yard pickup earlier this year.

On third-and-one at their own 29, Carr play faked to Kamara who came in jet motion behind him. As Carr rolled opposite, he found MVS on an over route in the middle of the field, allowing him to out run all defenders on Cleveland’s defense.

This touchdown marks Valdes-Scantling’s third touchdown as a Saint and his third in two games. The team has been waiting for someone to step up with Chris Olave and Rashid Shaheed unavailable and MVS has been a very pleasant addition in the middle of the year.

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Browns, Saints exchange long touchdown passes

The Saints and Browns went for long touchdown passes

One of Jameis Winston’s former teams played his current team on Sunday.

The Cleveland Browns quarterback connected with Jerry Jeudy on a pass and the wideout took it to the house, going 89 yards on the play.

The Saints countered with a long play of their own as Marquez Valdes-Scantling caught a pass from Derek Carr and scored on the 71-yard play.

The Saints led 14-6 at the half.

Saints offense has a huge edge on the Browns defense in this key stat

Derek Carr has been one of the best quarterbacks working off of play action, and the Saints should lean into it against the Browns:

Pro Football Focus would suggest the New Orleans Saints offense has one huge advantage over the Cleveland Browns defense. That comes in the form of play action passing.

Derek Carr grades out as one of the best quarterbacks in the league when using play action. The lack of play action was one of the things missing from last year’s offensive game plan. Under Klint Kubiak, PFF grades Carr as the third-best quarterback when using play action. Against play action, the Browns allow the 30th most yards in the NFL.

That creates a matchup between a top-five quarterback and bottom-five defense in this specific stat. You can’t run play action all game, but New Orleans does like to hit shot plays off of play action. We saw it last week with Marquez Valdes-Scantling’s big debut. A defense that allows a good amount of yardage on play action could open the door for more explosive plays like we saw last week.

According to charting from Pro Football Reference, the Saints are tied with the Browns for the 11th-most pass attempts off of play action (72), but New Orleans has been much more successful on those plays. They’re one of six teams to gain 700 or more yards off of play-action passing. If the Saints are going to win back-to-back games, they’ll need to lean on this aspect of their offense.

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Saints WR has a sweet comparison for interim head coach Darren Rizzi

Head coaches have been described in many ways, but Darren Rizzi may be the first to be compared to a Sour Patch Kid:

We’ve heard NFL head coaches be described in a few different ways, but Marquez Valdes-Scantling’s description of Darren Rizzi has to be one of the more unique descriptions in recent memory.

In a sitdown interview with Kay Adams, Valdes-Scantling compared the New Orleans Saints interim head coach to a Sour Patch Kid.Yes, the candy that’s sour then sweet. Instead of being sour and sweet, Rizzi possesses that same duality but in a different way. Valdes-Scantling described it as being “Fiery one second then he’s cool the next second.”

As funny as it is, it’s also a great representation of Rizzi’s personality. This comes from a player who has only been in New Orleans for two weeks. It’s a short time, but the wide receiver says Rizzi has “been the same guy every single day.”

When changing roles from coordinator to head coach, it’s easy to take on a new personality when your amount of power changes. That didn’t happen with Rizzi. He remained genuine the whole time.

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Week 10 NFL takeaways: Saints got an ‘interim coach bump’ vs. Falcons

The Saints got the “interim coach bump” in Week 10, and that was the biggest takeaway from their win according to Bleacher Report:

Bleacher Report’s staff gives their biggest takeaway from each team every week. Their biggest takeaway for the New Orleans Saints is that the coaching change gave the team a spark. New Orleans fired Dennis Allen after nearly three seasons as head coach and replaced him with special teams coordinator Darren Rizzi.

There were many changes throughout the week that seemed like small moves, but when they’re all compiled together it begins to resemble a culture reset. There was an immediate and different aura around this team and it translated to the field on Sunday versus the Atlanta Falcons. There was more energy, and for the first time in a long time the Saints had game breaking plays.

Marquez Valdes-Scantling had two long receptions from Derek Carr. The deep shot was once the most deadly trait of the offense, but it’s been absent since Rashid Shaheed suffered a season-ending injury.

John Ridgeway blocked Younghoe Koo’s field goal before halftime. There were just plays you didn’t see happening before. Large changes, like interim coaches, are known for sparking change in their first game but continuing that momentum is the difficult part. Only time will tell if Rizzi can keep performances high.

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WATCH: Marquez Valdes-Scantling scores first Saints TD in style

WATCH: Marquez Valdes-Scantling scored his first Saints touchdown in style, with a 40-yard strike against the Falcons

The New Orleans Saints offense is finally showing signs of life, and recently signed wide receiver Marquez Valdes-Scantling’s second reception with the Saints was an absolutely amazing one. MVS got up and over the safety in Justin Simmons, and was able to pull away from the trailing defender so Derek Carr could drop it in the basket for a 40-yard touchdown.

This was the longest Saints play since Foster Moreau’s 41-yard reception against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in Week 6. Valdes-Scantling was brought in to be a deep threat for the Saints in light of the injury to Rashid Shaheed, and boy has MVS lived up to that moniker with this touchdown.

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