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.
