2024 Chiefs Cap Casualty Candidate: Marquez Valdes-Scantling

The NFL offseason presents many critical decisions for every team. As much as incoming free agents or draft picks steal the show, other challenging choices still remain. This includes possibly moving on from an in-house option. And seemingly every year, there are a fair share of salary cap casualties around the entire league. For the Kansas City Chiefs in particular, there is one clear candidate to fall in this category. That salary cap casualty candidate is none other than wide receiver Marquez Valdes-Scantling.

It has been an up-and-down two seasons in Kansas City for MVS. Which quite honestly, mirrors his time spent with his original team, the Green Bay Packers. What we have seen Valdes-Scantling do with the Chiefs is simply the yearly MVS roller-coaster experience. And with that and his contract number for 2024 in mind, it is easy to see why the Chiefs’ cap casualty candidate is Marquez Valdes-Scantling.

What are the main reasons as to why Marquez Valdes-Scantling is a 2024 salary cap casualty candidate? Let’s kick it off.

Financial Implications

Now keep in mind, the 2024 NFL salary cap was set at $255.4 million. That was a historic, massive jump of $30.6 million from last year’s salary cap figure. That huge climb will benefit essentially every team for their offseason spending in 2024. But at the same time, opening up more salary cap space is still crucial for teams, including the Kansas City Chiefs.

By releasing Marquez Valdes-Scantling, the Chiefs would create $12 million in salary cap space, according to Over The Cap. Meanwhile, Over The Cap adds that KC would take on a measly $2 million dead cap hit. He is one of seven Chiefs players currently set to have a cap hit of at least $10 million in 2024, per Over The Cap. To boot, Valdes-Scantling is also one of five KC offensive players to be in that category.

Certainly, the salary cap will only continue to rise in future years. And this year’s jump was major, but with needing to fill other roster spots, that ability to create $12 million in salary cap space may be too good to pass up for the Chiefs.

2023 Drop-Off

Nobody was likely expecting Marquez Valdes-Scantling to lead the league in receiving in 2023. However, to have a drop-off in 2023 after his modest 2022 production was disappointing. Essentially, Valdes-Scantling’s numbers in 2023 were half of what he produced for the Chiefs offense in 2022. He followed up his 42 receptions in 2022, with just 21 receptions in 2023. Valdes-Scantling received 81 targets in 2022. His number of targets fell to just 42 total in 2023. Finally, his 687 receiving yards in 2022 were followed by just 315 receiving yards in 2023.

The thing that really becomes frustrating for Marquez Valdes-Scantling, he produced this low in 2023 while still receiving nearly 60 percent of the snaps. The chances at deep shots were there. Granted, we are not saying that Patrick Mahomes was perfect on every deep throw. But, the amount of chances to make plays on the football were hardly ever cashed in upon. You also saw Valdes-Scantling’s long speed neutralized by defenders and his lack of separation cost him dearly.

The Good Vs The Bad

To piggyback off of that last point a bit more, Marquez Valdes-Scantling had a chance at a potential larger role in 2023. JuJu Smith-Schuster departed in free agency last year. Rashee Rice was not necessarily expected to take as early of a jump as he did in his rookie season. In the end, the highs were even less minimal than the year prior for MVS. And as for the low points, these crept up more often in big moments in 2023.

On the bright side, some of the good moments for Marquez Valdes-Scantling while with KC have come in critical situations. If you look at his playoff run in his first year with the Chiefs, he was making game-changing plays left and right. And in the playoffs during this most recent run, Valdes-Scantling found ways to finally come through at chances to create explosive plays. He has been a solid playoff performer on the Chiefs offense in the last two years.

But as for the bad moments of Marquez Valdes-Scantling, his narrow skill set led to many targets on comeback routes or on deep shots. The success rate was not there as often this past season. And for his entire career, Valdes-Scantling has been basically average in success rate and catch percentage. You have to think that the Chiefs believe they can find a more productive replacement in this year’s free agent class. Obviously, drafting another wide receiver or two in the 2024 NFL Draft to help fill that void is also plausible. This move of cutting MVS appears too simple to avoid.