Steelers bring back veteran Marquez Valdes-Scantling amid receiver injury woes
Pittsburgh signed Valdes-Scantling to the practice squad Tuesday after Michael Pittman Jr. and Roman Wilson landed on injured reserve ahead of the Paris trip to face the Saints.
Why Valdes-Scantling is back in Pittsburgh
The Pittsburgh Steelers signed Marquez Valdes-Scantling to their practice squad Tuesday, and the move is about one thing: the Steelers do not have enough healthy receivers. Michael Pittman Jr. and Roman Wilson both went on injured reserve in the past week, which gutted a receiver room that was already thin. The signing comes right before Pittsburgh flies to Paris to play the New Orleans Saints.
With Pittman and Wilson out, the Steelers are down to DK Metcalf and rookie Germie Bernard as their experienced options. Those two combined for 22 catches in Pittsburgh's comeback win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Sunday, which is a lot of work for two players to carry on their own. Valdes-Scantling gives the team a veteran body who already knows the building.
Not his first run with this team
Valdes-Scantling spent part of the 2025 season in Pittsburgh, catching 10 passes for 80 yards and a touchdown across five games. He added three more catches in the Steelers' first round playoff loss to the Houston Texans. None of that is huge production, but it is familiarity, and familiarity matters when a receiver room is missing two of its pieces.
His third team in two months
This has been a strange stretch for Valdes-Scantling. The Dallas Cowboys released him in late August. The Los Angeles Chargers picked him up in September, and he caught two passes for 22 yards across three games there before Los Angeles let him go last week. Pittsburgh is now his third team since the end of summer, and the Steelers are betting that a player who already fit their system once can fit it again on short notice.
The Rodgers tie that goes back years
Part of what makes Valdes-Scantling a sensible fit in Pittsburgh is his history with quarterback Aaron Rodgers. The two were together in Green Bay, where Valdes-Scantling caught 123 passes across four seasons from 2018 to 2021. That kind of shared history can help a receiver get up to speed fast on a practice squad, which is exactly what Pittsburgh needs heading into a short week before a trip overseas.
Facts per ESPN. Opinion is the taproom's.