The Pittsburgh Steelers added wide receiver depth by reportedly signing WR Marquez Valdes-Scantling. It’s a reunion for Valdes-Scantling and QB Aaron Rodgers. They played together with the Green Bay Packers from when the Packers drafted Valdes-Scantling through the 2021 season.
But just who is the Steelers’ newest wide receiver? Not just as a football player, but as a human being.
Started College Career At NC State Before Transferring To USF
Valdes-Scantling was born in Florida, but he began his college journey in North Carolina with the NC State Wolfpack. And his career started off quite well with the Wolfpack. In his debut game, he caught four passes for 87 yards. Those 87 yards led the team. And the following week, he led the team in both catches (eight) and receiving yardage (87).
However, those 14 catches were not a sign of things to come with the Wolfpack. By the end of his sophomore season, he had only 44 catches for 538 yards. So, he entered the transfer portal and returned to his home state with the University of South Florida.
“It was just they did different things with the offense with the running backs and the tight ends, and the receivers weren’t really involved in the passing game as much,” said Valdes-Scantling in an interview with Joey Knight of the Tampa Bay Times in September of 2016. “That was my ultimate decision of why to leave. I wanted to be at the next level, and not being able to get the ball, that was a main reason.”
Record-Setter At USF
The move paid off. Valdes-Scantling had to sit out the 2015 season due to the transfer rules at the time. But by the time the dust settled on his time in South Florida, he was ranked 10th on USF’s career receiving yards list despite only playing two seasons for the Bulls. And in 2017, his final year with the team, he set the school record for most receiving yards in a single season with 879 yards.
That senior performance led to an invitation to the NFLPA Collegiate Bowl in 2018. He had three catches for 36 yards in that game, finishing second on the American team.
Death Threats
Unfortunately for Marquez Valdes-Scantling and his family, they’ve seen the ugly side of professional sports. While with the Green Bay Packers, Valdes-Scantling fumbled in overtime during a 2020 game versus the Indianapolis Colts. The Colts recovered the fumble and went on to win the game. After the game, Valdes-Scantling took to X/Twitter to call out the fans who he said sent him death threats.
Death threats over a football game? Jesus you people need help. It’s actually sick. I’m good. My team got my back. ✊🏾
— Marquez V-S (@MVS__11) November 23, 2020
That wasn’t the only time Valdes-Scantling and his family faced the evil side of fandom, either. After Valdes-Scantling spent the first four seasons of his career in Green Bay, he went to the Kansas City Chiefs. He won two Super Bowl trophies there. However, in the buildup to the second Super Bowl, Valdes-Scantling bobbled a potential touchdown pass in 2023 and dropped it. This time, it wasn’t just him getting calls and texts.
His mother, Tahisia Scantling, started getting phone calls.
“One person told her to watch her back; in another call, a man strongly encouraged her son to catch the ball,” ESPN’s Elizabeth Merrill wrote.
And of course, the internet took to Valdes-Scantling’s messages as well.
“I was told to kill myself,” Valdes-Scantling said. “[That] they were going to kill me. And I got voice memos about how someone was going to shoot me, or how I lost them all this money, and they’re going to come find me. Everything that you could possibly think of, it was said.”
At the end of the day, football is a game. Yes, these are, in some cases, millionaires being paid to play a game. But that sure as heck doesn’t give anyone, paying fan or gambler, to harass these players or their family members with death threats. It’s genuinely disgusting and disconcerting. If your fandom (or betting) compels you to pick up your phone and send something terrible to a player or their family, you need to get some help.
Finding Purpose Outside Of Football
Even in high school, Valdes-Scantling knew there was more to life than football. According to the ESPN article above, when a pastor asked him, “Who do you want to help?”, Valdes-Scantling got to work.
“He visited nursing homes and homeless shelters and cleaned strangers’ yards,” Merrill wrote. “He helped build houses with Habitat for Humanity.”
It’s a stark contrast from how people treated him after mistakes on the field. All those people could see was a football blunder. But Valdes-Scantling saw people in need, and he got to work. That’s continued, according to an interview with Esquire earlier in 2025.
“That’s been a big thing for me, whether it be through philanthropy, business ventures, giving back to my community, or even, with my fashion show, giving creators a space to showcase their creativeness,” Valdes-Scantling said. “That’s been a huge, being able to go in and have a platform and give it to other people that may not have that same platform as me.”
Fashion Is Key
Valdes-Scantling is also the owner of two different clothing companies, SIK (Successful Innovative Kings) Selection and Craft Tee. He even started a fashion show called Luxe Fashion Fest.
“I wanted to bring high-end fashion to my hometown, the Tampa Bay area, because it’s such a growing city,” Valdes-Scantling told Esquire. “It’s such a hotbed for everything but fashion. We have sports, we have nice weather, we have beaches, but we just don’t have high-end fashion.”
Marquez Valdes-Scantling is a reminder that every single player who puts on a jersey on game day is a human being first and foremost, just like the fans.