Former Packers Marquez Valdes-Scantling & Rick Lovato will play in Super Bowl LVII

Jan 30, 2023 - 4:00 PM

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The Green Bay Packers will not play in the Super Bowl 13 days from now, but there will be two former members of the team who will suit up when the Kansas City Chiefs and Philadelphia Eagles meet in Glendale, Arizona. One is a recently-departed wide receiver who had a few nice years with the Packers while the other had just a brief tenure with the team as an injury replacement.

However, both players have pitched in for their new teams in important ways, one for just the 2022 season and the other for several years. Here’s a look at the two former Packers who will suit up in Super Bowl LVII.

Kansas City Chiefs

WR Marquez Valdes-Scantling

A fifth-round draft pick by Green Bay in 2018, Valdes-Scantling became one of the more dangerous deep-ball threats in the NFL during his four years with the Packers. However, the Packers could not break through to the Super Bowl during his tenure, losing in the 2019 and 2020 NFC Championship Games.

After signing a three-year, $30 million contract with the Chiefs as an unrestricted free agent last spring, he now has the chance to play in the big game for the first time. This season saw the lanky deep threat put up similar regular season numbers to those that he posted in Green Bay, however. His 81 targets and 42 receptions were career highs, but he finished with 687 yards, three short of his high mark of 690 in 2020. He scored just two touchdowns this season, tying the fewest in any one season of his career.

The playoffs started out quietly for MVS, as he caught just one reception in the Chiefs’ Divisional playoff victory over the Jaguars, though it was a big one: a six-yard touchdown that extended KC’s lead to ten points in the fourth quarter. In Sunday evening’s AFC Championship Game, however, MVS had the game of his life. With two of the Chiefs’ other top receivers down with injuries and tight end Travis Kelce somewhat limited after tweaking his back during practice on Friday, MVS caught six of eight targets for 116 yards and a touchdown, serving as Patrick Mahomes’ go-to receiver.

It has been a remarkable streak of quarterback play that MVS has been able to enjoy, as Aaron Rodgers won back-to-back MVPs in 2020 and 2021 and Mahomes is likely to win the same honor this season. Of course, Mahomes, MVS, and their teammates will have their eyes on the Lombardi Trophy instead.

Philadelphia Eagles

LS Rick Lovato

The Packers employed Lovato for a short time late in 2015 through training camp of 2016. Lovato, who entered the picture after longtime long snapper Brett Goode tore his ACL, played the final two games of the regular season and both of the Packers’ playoff games. He and Goode competed for the job during the Packers’ 2016 training camp, but Goode got the nod after his return, landing with Washington briefly that season before catching on with the Eagles late in 2016.

Lovato has locked down the snapping job for the Eagles ever since, not missing a game since his arrival. He has also achieved both team and individual successes, earning a Super Bowl ring as part of the Eagles’ 2017 championship team and a Pro Bowl appearance for the 2019 season.