Steelers Free Agent Analysis: Marquez Valdes-Scantling
Position: Wide Receiver
Experience: 8 Years (1 with Steelers)
Free Agent Status: Unrestricted
2025 Salary Cap Hit: $228,889
2025 Season Breakdown:
The Steelers promoted Marquez Valdes-Scantling to essentially a starting role late in the year, and they profited little from it. A veteran wide receiver with built-in history with Aaron Rodgers, he didn’t look the part. In fact, on 21 targets, he only caught 10. At times, he clearly wasn’t on the same page as his quarterback.
Not that Valdes-Scantling was ever an offensive juggernaut. He never even produced a single 700-yard season. His 6-touchdown year looks like an outlier, never hitting more than 4 otherwise. For his career, his catch percentage is below 50 percent. Even for a player who is primarily a deep ball threat, that is low.
The Steelers tried to use Valdes-Scantling in that role last year, sort of, and it didn’t work. Some of that was on Rodgers, but the wide receiver certainly shared in the blame. He failed to track passes appropriately and couldn’t finish catches inbounds.
Most egregious was the end of the Browns game in Week 17 when Marquez Valdes-Scantling drew three targets in the end zone on consecutive plays. He hardly came close on any of them, on one occasion misplaying the throw altogether. The Browns laughed.
Free Agency Outlook:
Suffice it to say that the Steelers of 2026 do not need Marquez Valdes-Scantling, Aaron Rodgers or not. They kicked the tires last year, and they found a leak, so it’s time to look elsewhere. The best they can do is offer a one-year, Veteran Salary benefit contract with no promise of anything. Not even a promise of a roster spot by the time training camp rolls along.
Beyond resolving the quarterback situation for 2026, the Steelers have one clear offseason priority. They’re infusing talent into the skill positions, particularly at wide receiver. If Marquez Valdes-Scantling is in the conversation for the 53-man roster in August, they failed.
The Steelers havea long list of free agents this year, but not absolutely can’t-lose names, at least debatably. Aaron Rodgers is the presumptive exception; the team already went on record expressing the desire that he return. While the list includes significant players like Kenneth Gainwell and Isaac Seumalo, they are not overwhelmingly pressing priorities. The quarterback question supersedes all, and I don’t foresee another Mason Rudolph spring. There are some choice role players, but they wouldn’t fall apart if they lost the entire lot.
And with the Steelers introducing almost an entirely new coaching regime, the free agency direction is unclear. No doubt we will witness how things evolve in the time between February and March. It’s possible they make some significant moves, a surprising cut, or work on a bold trade. After all, this is a new scheme into which they are now building.
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