After spending his first four seasons in Green Bay, free-agent receiver Marquez Valdes-Scantling is headed to Kansas City, making it official by signing a three-year, $30-million contract.
MVS, who led the NFL in yards per catch as recently as 2020, replaces Tyreek Hill as the Chiefs’ primary deep threat, joining a loaded offense flush with playmakers (Patrick Mahomes, Travis Kelce and newcomer JuJu Smith-Schuster, to name a few). While fans—most of the “championship or bust” mindset—surely would have preferred a bigger name, Valdes-Scantling’s size (6’4”/206) and elite separation skills (4.37 forty) make him a worthy asset and a logical successor to Hill, who the Chiefs shipped to Miami in a blockbuster trade earlier this week.
The former fifth-round pick couldn’t hold back his emotion on Twitter, reflecting on his unlikely path to NFL stardom, signing a life-changing deal he never could have envisioned after the setback he encountered as a freshman at Lakewood High School in St. Petersburg, Florida.
The 27-year-old’s improbable success story reminds us of the impossible odds athletes are asked to overcome on a daily basis. Nearly all of our sports heroes, from Michael Jordan (who didn’t make the varsity squad until his junior year of high school) to Tom Brady (drafted 199th overall in 2000), played with a chip on their shoulder, hardened by years of rejection and self-doubt. MVS is no different in that regard.
In a cutthroat sport where displaying emotion of any kind is largely discouraged, it’s refreshing to see an athlete express this kind of gratitude, soaking in the moment instead of taking it for granted.
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