National Football League

Laquon Treadwell doesn't look like a starting wide receiver

Published Jun. 30, 2017 6:28 p.m. ET

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Laquon Treadwell may have talent but he looks a long way from being ready to start for an NFL team.

The Minnesota Vikings made Laquon Treadwell their first-round pick this year, and with that selection came the expectation that Treadwell would be able to contribute right away.

That expectation existed in the minds of fans at least. Maybe the team had different ideas.

What is the plan now for Laquon Treadwell? That’s the important question.

To me, there’s no way Treadwell can line up as a starter when the season kicks off September 11. He simply hasn’t looked like starter material this preseason.

Treadwell’s exhibition season started off impressively enough with four catches in the first game. Then came the second game when Treadwell posted a goose egg and looked slow doing it.

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Treadwell caught one ball for 15 yards against the Chargers. Thursday night against Los Angeles, the first-rounder had his second flat-out stinker of a game.

It wasn’t just that Treadwell caught only one ball for five yards on five targets. It was what happened with those missed targets.

The first two times Joel Stave threw the ball in Treadwell’s direction, the rookie receiver dropped it. No gray area on those plays. They were drops.

The third missed connection looked like a situation where either Treadwell broke the wrong way or Stave threw to the wrong spot or both. Stave and Treadwell made it a perfect 0-for-4 night by failing to hook up later in that same drive.

It was only late in the game, with Brad Sorensen in at QB, that Treadwell finally got his hands on a ball. For five yards.

It was only one game and a preseason affair at that, but I think it provided further alarming evidence that at this point Treadwell isn’t close to ready.

Two big knocks came up in Treadwell’s pre-draft scouting report: focus drops and inability to separate from corners.

The focus drop issue showed up big-time against the Rams. We know Treadwell can catch the ball from a JUGS machine but what about when the game is on and things are happening fast-and-furious and people are trying to knock his block off?

We just don’t know if Treadwell can shake this apparent case of the receiver yips.

Ultimately, the second issue – inability to gain separation – may be the more serious one.

Treadwell can work on his concentration and get over that hurdle, but there’s nothing he can do about the fact that he lacks speed.

Treadwell ran a slow 40-time pre-draft and we were told it wasn’t important. But what if it was the most important thing of all?

One phrase keeps coming up in discussions of Treadwell’s ultimate role: “possession receiver.”

If all Laquon Treadwell ever becomes is a decent underneath receiver who can out-physical the opponent, he will be a bust.

Treadwell was drafted to be a big-play receiver but so far there is little evidence to suggest he can ever become that.

Right now, Treadwell is no better than the fourth receiver, with Stefon Diggs, Charles Johnson and Adam Thielen all clearly ahead of him. Jarius Wright probably brings more to the table currently than the rookie.

It is of course still very early in the process. As we saw last year with Trae Waynes, sometimes first-rounders need a year to learn.

This year Trae Waynes looks like a player. Will it take until preseason 2017 for the real Laquon Treadwell to stand up? Or is he destined to join Cordarrelle Patterson and Troy Williamson in the ranks of notorious Vikings first-round wide receiver mistakes?

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