Kansas City Chiefs wide receiver Marquez Valdes-Scantling was the same guy in Kansas City as he was in Green Bay. With an even shallower wide receiver depth chart, is this the year Valdes-Scantling is able to break through? What is his fantasy football projection?
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Marquez Valdes-Scantling’s 2023 Fantasy Projection
It feels like every year, some fantasy managers find a reason to want to believe in MVS. To an extent, you can understand it. The man lives off of splash plays.
Last season, Valdes-Scantling had a 14.6 average depth of target, seventh in the league. In 2020, he led the NFL in yards per reception. But it’s all just a mirage for fantasy purposes.
The random spike games keep MVS on fantasy rosters when he shouldn’t be there. The reality is Valdes-Scantling has never been fantasy relevant. He’s been in the NFL for five seasons now. He played four with Aaron Rodgers and one with Patrick Mahomes. In 2020, Valdes-Scantling’s 8.6 PPR fantasy points per game was his best season. His WR59 finish in 2021 was his highest. So, what exactly is the appeal?
Well, for a guy who so rarely produces games worthy of being in fantasy lineups, MVS has far more 14+ fantasy point games than you’d think. Last season, he had three of them. In 2021, he also had three in just 11 games, with five in 2020.
That’s what keeps MVS in fantasy managers’ minds. The fact that the spike weeks are there but also completely unpredictable. Then one of those weeks arrives, and fantasy managers rush to pick him up. Then, he again does nothing for a few weeks before you get another. Rinse. Repeat.
This is the MVS way, and it’s how he’s been a name fantasy managers seem to care about for five seasons, despite the fact that he’s never finished better than a low WR5.
Should You Draft Marquez Valdes-Scantling This Year?
The Chiefs’ top five receivers are currently Kadarius Toney, MVS, Skyy Moore, Richie James, and rookie Rashee Rice. Once again, you can’t ask for an easier depth chart for MVS to climb. There are few teams in which MVS would even be a top-four receiver, but on the Chiefs, he’s poised to start.
Nevertheless, I won’t be drafting MVS this year. Last season, despite the move to Kansas City, I was completely out, ranking him as my WR61. Somehow, that wasn’t low enough as he finished WR70 with just 42 receptions for 687 yards and two touchdowns in 17 games, averaging 7.2 points per game.
This season, Valdes-Scantling is my WR70, which is right in line with his WR75, No. 198 overall ADP. Once you get down that low in rankings, they become far less rigid. You want to take shots on players with the potential to provide a positive return on investment. We have five years of evidence that MVS cannot do that.
MVS will be one of the last players selected in your fantasy draft — if he’s drafted at all. When you see his name near the top of the list of available players, take someone with more upside than a 28-year-old wide receiver who’s proven to be nothing more than a real-life rotational WR4/5.
