Kansas City Chiefs fans and wide receiver Marquez Valdes-Scantling have a bit of a complicated relationship. While the wide receiver has made more than his fair share of mistakes over the past two seasons, he redeemed himself with multiple big plays during the Chiefs latest postseason run. Valdes-Scantling’s first big moment came when he hauled in the game-clinching pass against the Baltimore Ravens to send the team to the Super Bowl. Two weeks later, he hauled in a touchdown during Kansas City’s furious comeback.
In total, Marquez Valdes-Scantling finished the regular season with 21 receptions for 315 receiving yards and one touchdown. Despite the postseason heroics, this isn’t what the Chiefs thought they were getting when they gave him a three-year, $30 million contract back in the 2022 offseason. Because of this, NFL insider Ari Meirov believes that Kansas City will cut Valdes-Scanting in the coming days.
In a recent article, Meriov mentions that the Chiefs are “likely to revamp their receiver room” in the offseason, which means Valdes-Scantling is likely on the way out. The NFL insider also points out that Kansas City can save $12 million in cap space by cutting him while only taking a $2 million dead cap hit.
Marquez Valdes-Scantling Listed As Potential Cut Candidate
Even though he had a strong postseason, releasing Marquez Valdes-Scantling is one of the easiest decisions the Kansas City Chiefs can make. The speedy wide receiver simply is not a great talent, and his inability to do anything other than run in a straight line has hurt this offense over the past two years.
Even if there wasn’t a financial incentive to part ways with Marquez Valdes-Scantling, the Chiefs still might have moved on. However, now that they have $12 million reasons to do so, it’s a foregone conclusion. Valdes-Scantling is good enough to bounce around on a different roster, but the Chiefs are better off using that money to build a more complete roster.
What To Do With the Savings
As of this posting, the Kansas City Chiefs have $23.78 million in cap space, and that number will jump to about $36 million with Marquez Valdes-Scantling released. At first glance, one might think that would be more than enough money for one offseason. However, a further look shows this team is still strapped for cash, even after parting ways with the wide receiver.
Chris Jones and L’Jarius Sneed are both set to hit free agency, and both players are crucial to Kansas City’s shots at a three-peat. Using the franchise tag on Jones would use up essentially all of the Chiefs cap space, and L’Jarius Sneed is not taking a hometown discount. Chances are, Kansas City’s best chance of keeping both players in town involves using the tag on Sneed and hoping they can outbid the competition for Jones.
Even if the Chiefs find a way to bring back both players, they’ll still need to upgrade wide receiver. This would be true with or without Marquez Valdes-Scantling on the roster, so it’s not like his release creates an additional weakness on the roster. The best-case scenario is finding a way to trade for Tee Higgins, but the Bengals probably wouldn’t give a player like Higgins to a conference rival. Instead, they could try to sign someone like Mike Evans or Marquise Brown, and they’ll need some money to get those deals done.
Main Photo: Kirby Lee – USA Today Sports
