You may not be too familiar with him yet, but you’re going to be. After being largely an afterthought in the Packers offense for the first 4 weeks, Marquez Valdes-Scantling has now topped 12 PPR points in each of the last 4 games. Most recently he hauled in 3 of 6 targets for 101 yards against the Patriots on Sunday. MVS was given an opportunity during the absence of Geronimo Allison, and after the way he’s performed thus far (along with Allison likely headed to the IR), his role in Green Bay’s offense will only increase moving forward.
Valdes-Scantling is the biggest body in Green Bay’s receiving corps at 6’4″, and Aaron Rodgers has seemed to enjoy having a big, talented target that can stretch the field and open up space for the rest of the offense.
“I told him at halftime, ‘I’m going to come back to you,’” Rodgers said. “And sure enough, on that first drive, they brought empty pressure, we picked it up, and hit him for a big play that got us back in the game.”
MVS later caught two 20+ yard passes on the same drive that had the Packers cruising down the field before an Aaron Jones fumble. In fact, 6 of his last 7 catches have been for over 20 yards, showing a small sample size of the lucrative role he could be carving out in Green Bay’s passing game. The Packers are clearly very impressed with the rookie 5th-rounder out of USF, who has quickly become their 3rd leading receiver after Davante Adams and Jimmy Graham, but the fantasy world has yet to catch up — he’s still owned in just 38% of Yahoo leagues, and that number drops to 21% on ESPN. He’s sitting firmly in the “Buy Now” category this week, even with Miami looming for Week 10, who have given up the 9th-lowest point total to WRs in 2018.
