While the Steelers added veteran WR Marquez Valdes-Scantling, HC Mike Tomlin is not about to talk him up any time soon, it seems. After working him out last week, they waited to make any moves. Then, instead of signing him to their 53-man roster, they signed him to their practice squad. And that is how Tomlin views him, at least in his comments yesterday.
“He’s just a practice squader right now”, Tomlin said of Valdes-Scantling, via the Steelers’ website. “We’ll get him in the fold and get him working, check his overall level of conditioning, how he learns, and some of those things. It is not the [Kyle] Dugger discussion. He’s just a practice squad guy”.
While Tomlin did say that Valdes-Scantling is “just a practice squader right now”, the entire comment doesn’t sound like a ringing endorsement. The fact that he emphasized a contrast between this move and the Kyle Dugger trade is significant, too. Dugger started Sunday against the Colts and played nearly every snap after having two days of practice.
In the case of Marquez Valdes-Scantling, there is no guarantee he has a job from day to day, let alone any certainty that he will play a game in a Steelers uniform. While he has a rapport with former Packers teammate Aaron Rodgers, Tomlin also completely shot down any notion that Rodgers played a role in their interest in adding him to the practice squad.
Of course, the fact that Valdes-Scantling was a free agent in November should tell you what not just the Steelers but the league thinks of him at this point. Now in his eighth season at 31 years old, he has a lot of mileage. Earlier this season, he signed with the 49ers after they were bombarded by injuries. He caught four passes for 40 yards in five games.
The Steelers didn’t make much effort to try to add a wide receiver even while Calvin Austin III was hurt, and if they really had strong feelings about Marquez Valdes-Scantling, they could have added him earlier than now. All things considered, the truth value of Tomlin’s comments are, in my opinion, plausible.
Of course, Tomlin also said that before the trade deadline. The Steelers didn’t add any other wide receivers, so it’s possible Valdes-Scantling will mean more to them now. If they felt that they needed some help, he is all the help they’re going to get.
Over eight NFL seasons, Valdes-Scantling has 209 catches for 3,606 yards and 20 touchdowns. He spent the first four years of his career with Rodgers in Green Bay, emerging as a deep threat. Even currently, he is the NFL’s active leader in yards per catch at 17.3 yards. Just last year, he averaged 21.6 yards per catch, albeit on 19 receptions.
