The Seattle Seahawks are releasing veteran wide receiver Marquez Valdes-Scantling, according to a report from ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler on Tuesday.
The report came just over an hour ahead of the NFL’s 53-man roster cutdown deadline.
Seahawks Roster Tracker: Keep up on cuts down to 53
Valdes-Scantling signed with Seattle in March on a one-year, $4 million deal that included a guaranteed $3 million. He was expected to be Seattle’s third wide receiver behind Jaxon Smith-Njigba and Cooper Kupp, but rookie fifth-round draft pick Tory Horton appeared to overtake him on the depth chart with a strong training camp and preseason.
With Horton’s emergence, Valdes-Scantling suddenly found himself among a group of wideouts battling for limited back-end spots in the Seahawks’ receiving room – including Jake Bobo, Dareke Young, Cody White and return specialist Steven Sims.
The 30-year-old Valdes-Scantling is by far the most experienced of those wideouts, but he’s also the only one who doesn’t play special teams. That likely played a role, especially with the Seahawks facing the roster crunch of keeping three quarterbacks and a fullback this year.
Valdes-Scantling, a 2018 fifth-round draft pick by the Green Bay Packers, has 3,566 receiving yards and 20 touchdown catches over his seven-year NFL career. His career average of 17.4 yards per catch leads all active NFL receivers with at least 200 receptions since 2018, according to Stathead.
After four seasons with the Packers and two seasons with the Kansas City Chiefs, Valdes-Scantling split the 2024 season with the Buffalo Bills and New Orleans Saints. He was released by the Bills after making just two catches in six games, but then signed with the Saints and emerged as their top downfield threat over the second half of the year. He totaled 17 catches for 385 yards and four TDs in eight games with New Orleans, while playing under offensive coordinator Klint Kubiak – who is now the Seahawks’ OC.
Valdes-Scantling had three catches for 33 yards in Saturday’s preseason finale against the Packers. He didn’t play in the preseason opener against the Las Vegas Raiders and played just 10 snaps in the second preseason game against the Chiefs.