The New Orleans Saints tough 2024 season is thankfully over, and now they get to look ahead to bigger and better things like their head coach hiring process, the 2025 NFL draft, and working on signings/re-signings in the coming weeks once the playoffs wrap up. This is an intriguing offseason when it comes to bringing back players, as there are not a ton of quality Saints players hitting the market, but there are certainly a few, and then many good depth pieces behind that.
One of the most interesting ones will be wide receiver Marquez Valdes-Scantling, who signed with the Saints back in the middle of October and was a great offensive playmaker for the time he was with the team. The position is one of desperate need for the Saints as well given injury history and lack of true depth as well, so bringing him back may be in the cards.
With that said, let’s take a look back at his career so far as well as his ability to make the most of his opportunity with the Saints:
Career Stats
Valdes-Scantling has had a very up and down career in the NFL, having some truly spectacular seasons like 2020 when he led the league in yards per reception and 2022 when he was crucial to the Kansas City Chiefs offense. On the other hand, he has had down years like 2023 and 2021 where he was less productive and dealt with drops on a pretty consistent basis.
His catch percentage has never particularly been good or above average, as he has a career 49.5% catch rate, and his highest in a season was 52.4% in 2020 on 63 targets. Yards wise he has always stuck around the 300 to 600 range, his best seasons being 2020 with 690 and 2022 with 687. In terms of touchdowns, he has only ever had more than five in a season once, with six in 2020, though he did have four of them with the Saints this season in just eight games. Overall, he has always been somewhat of a large play producer with not a lot of value as an every down player, which is neither good nor bad.
Snap Counts
In seven seasons across various NFL teams, Valdes-Scantling has been primarily a deep shot threat, and that shows in his snap counts each year. In his eight games with the Saints in 2024, he got a higher snap percentage than all but two of his seasons (76% in 2020 and 68% in 2022) with 66%. His efficiency has always come from being a player you could rely on to push the defense back and allow for shots underneath to tight ends or short route players, and when that folded, you could take one big chunk play out of the defense all at once.
As the active leader in yards per reception, his snap count likely will not ever hit 70% or more again, but all he needs is 50% to 60% to make a true difference, and the Saints offered that in 2024 which he was able to work with.
2024 season review
The 2024 season for Valdes-Scantling was an intriguing one, as he started out with the Buffalo Bills and was able to play in six games, but was only targeted 9 times and had 2 receptions for 26 yards. The Bills eventually moved on from him, and he was picked up by the Saints which is where he started to get an opportunity after injuries to Rashid Shaheed and later Chris Olave.
In 8 games he started every one, having 35 targets for 17 receptions, 385 receiving yards (22.6 yards per catch), and 4 touchdowns with a 48.6% catch rate. He was nowhere near perfect, and was primarily only used as a deep threat with very few short receptions, however his explosiveness was one of the few things the Saints offense had going for it. Ultimately, he was good, but his skillset is very similar to what the Saints already have in Shaheed, which makes keeping him around interesting.
Stay or go?
When it comes down to retaining Marquez Valdes-Scantling, the price tag may not be a big issue as he chose the Saints already when he was cut previously, so he may take the option to remain here since it worked out already. The issue will be fitting him in with Rashid Shaheed and Chris Olave, as both are deep threats already (Olave being a multi-faceted one). Ultimately it would not hurt to take a one year shot on him and just see if his production can remain, while you address the need for a true dominant outside receiver as well during the draft.
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