Matt LaFleur says Packers Need Marquez Valdes-Scantling

While the second half of the 2019 season was rough for Marquez Valdes-Scantling, Matt LaFleur mentioned that the Green Bay Packers are going to need him in 2020.

One player, in particular, who could provide this Green Bay Packers’ offense with a boost this season is third-year wide receiver, Marquez Valdes-Scantling. However, I’m sure as we all remember, over the second half of last season, his snap counted plummeted as did his production.

After averaging 51 snaps per game through the first eight weeks of the season, Valdes-Scantling averaged just over 17 snaps per game from week nine through the end of the regular season, including only 67 total offensive snaps over the Packers’ final five games.

As you’d expect from a lack of snaps, his production suffered as well. Over that same span of games from weeks nine through 17, Valdes-Scantling was targeted just 17 times, hauling in only four of them for receptions and totaling a measly 32 yards with no touchdowns.

At the time, we could only speculate what the issue or issues might be, but on Sunday in a Zoom call with reporters, Matt LaFleur confirmed what many us assumed, and that was that Valdes-Scantling was battling an ankle injury, but he also had lost some confidence as well.

Valdes-Scantling would tweak his ankle in Green Bay’s Monday Night win against Detroit, and it continued to linger for the remainder of the season. While over the second half of the year, there were some drops and misplayed deep balls – most notably against Chicago on Green Bay’s opening drive in week 15 – that shook his confidence a bit and led to him falling out of favor with LaFleur.

However, while that is the portion of Valdes-Scantling’s 2019 season that is remembered, what appears to be forgotten about by many, is that he was a big contributor to this offense through the first seven weeks.

During that stretch of games, he would haul in 21 receptions at nearly 20 yards per catch with two touchdowns. This includes a 47-yard reception against Chicago in Week 1 that led to the only touchdown of the game, along with a 99-yard performance against Devner, and a 133-yard performance against Oakland.

In order for this Green Bay Packers’ offense to be firing on all cylinders this season, this is the Marquez Valdes-Scantling that they need, and LaFleur went out of his way to emphasize that in his call with reporters:

"“We need him (Marquez Valdes-Scantling) to be a consistent performer for us because he does have incredible speed and he scares the defense when he’s out on the field.”"

With virtually the same wide receiver group in 2020 as the Packers had in 2019 – minus Geronimo Allison – Valdes-Scantling is still Green Bay’s best option when it comes to the deep ball. With his 4.38 speed, MVS can take the top off of defenses unlike any other receiver on this roster can, which according to LaFleur, is going to be an area of emphasis this season:

"“One area we really need to improve on is creating more explosive plays. We were pretty efficient, but were 23rd in explosive plays. That starts with play calling (and) maybe take a few more chances to help generate those plays down the field.”"

While much of the focus, or scrutiny, is on the Green Bay Packers becoming more “run-oriented” in 2020, just keep in mind that Aaron Rodgers is still under center, and capitalizing off of play-action will be crucial. That means Valdes- Scantling is going to have plenty of opportunities downfield this season, and as LaFleur put it, the Packers are going to need him to be consistent.