Packers are expected to place Marquez Valdes-Scantling (hamstring) on short-term IR, per source. The thought is a speed option downfield could re-aggravate the injury so they want to give him time.
— Jeremy Fowler (@JFowlerESPN) October 1, 2021
The Green Bay Packers are going to put receiver Marquez Valdes-Scantling on the shelf for at least three games while he recovers from a hamstring injury.
According to Jeremy Fowler of ESPN, the Packers are expected to place Valdes-Scantling on injured reserve to help prevent any re-aggravation of the injury.
Valdes-Scantling, who suffered the injury last Sunday night against the San Francisco 49ers, didn’t practice this week and has already been ruled out for Sunday’s game against the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Coach Matt LaFleur said the team wasn’t worried about the injury being long term but did express interest in taking the cautious route with a soft-tissue injury, especially for a player so dependent on speed like Valdes-Scantling.
The Packers don’t have another deep threat of the caliber of Valdes-Scantling, who has six catches for 76 yards and a touchdown but leads the team with an NFL-high eight targets of at least 20 yards. Last season. Valdes-Scantling led the league with four catches of at least 40 yards.
If he goes on injured reserve on Saturday, Valdes-Scantling would miss games against the Steelers, Cincinnati Bengals and Chicago Bears and be eligible to return in Week 7 against the Washington Football Team.
Putting Valdes-Scantling on injured reserve would allow the Packers to promote Equanimeous St. Brown from the practice squad to the 53-man roster.
Valdes-Scantling would join edge rusher Za’Darius Smith, linebacker Randy Ramsey, safety Will Redmond and tight end Dominique Dafney on injured reserve. Smith and Dafney are eligible to return.
