Rookie SWOT: Laquon Treadwell

By Eric Burtzlaff

Posted on May 24, 2016

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Name: Laquon Treadwell

Position: Wide Receiver

Pro team: Minnesota Vikings

College team: Ole Miss

Draft Status: Round One, Pick No. 23 overall

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Video Highlights

Combine Review

Height: 6’2”

Weight: 221 Lbs

Hands: 9 1/2”

Arm Length: 33 3/8”

Bench Press (225 LBS): 12 Reps

40-Yard-Dash: 4.63 Seconds

3-Cone-Drill: 7.05 Seconds

20-Yard-Shuttle: 4.29 Seconds

Vertical Jump: 33 1/2 Inches

Broad Jump: 117 Inches

Strengths

• Strong hands coupled with height and size make him a good red zone threat
• Solid body control and wins contested catches
• Shiftier than his speed/agility would indicate on film due to great footwork and route running
• Can play anywhere on the field
• Strong receiver who can win after the catch with stiff arms and size
• Football intelligent understands what is necessary to get open with each play
• Blocking wide receiver. He will be an asset on the field during every play which should keep him on the field.
• 20 years old

Weaknesses

• 40 speed – This is the largest and one of the only concerns with Treadwell among the fantasy community. He does everything right aside from speed and athleticism. The primary concern being that he won’t be able to create any space in the NFL. If his jump ball technique and struggles against press coverage don’t play out well, Treadwell could be “just another guy” in the league.

• Could stand to bulk up a little more to help against NFL corners press coverage.

Overall Skill Set

Treadwell was taken No. 4 at the position of wide receiver in this draft. As I outlined in his weaknesses above, he doesn’t have any large holes in his game aside from his speed and strength. He is a smart football player who makes terrific high point catches. He was a five-star recruit out of high school, produced at a high level in college and is still insanely young. If he gets quicker, faster and stronger, look out. He should also immediately be a threat in the red zone not just with his size but also his blocking. He should fit in very well in Minnesota.

Opportunities

As far as opportunities go, there likely wasn’t a better landing spot for Treadwell in the first round. All other teams in the market for wide receiver in the first round had a prototypical WR1. If Treadwell had fallen another spot to the Bengals, he would have had significantly less fantasy upside. He will immediately slip into the No. 1 wide receiver spot for Minnesota with his compliment being Stefon Diggs (another five star high school recruit).

Treadwell will be immediately fantasy relevant in both dynasty and redraft circles. It would be surprising if Treadwell didn’t have a handle on the WR1 job by mid-training camp.

Threats

The largest threats to Treadwell’s production are a Hakeem Nicks-ish bust out of the league and Teddy Bridgewater’s arm. If he can prove his style of play works against NFL corners, he will just have to wait for bad Bridgewater to lose his job (if he doesn’t get better).

In all likelihood, however, Bridgewater will get better and Treadwell will, at minimum, be a steady WR3 in fantasy this year.

The ‘slowness’ threats were certainly enough to damage both his NFL draft value and tarnish his dynasty draft value. I still haven’t seen Treadwell go outside of the top two in any my drafts, but I have heard of him falling to 1.04 and even 1.05 in some drafts.

Short-Term Expectations

As I’ve mentioned throughout this write-up, Treadwell will get every chance in his first year to take over the WR1 position on the Vikings. Minnesota is expecting that. It wouldn’t be surprising to see a ‘bulking up’ period of blurbs and coach-speak from the Vikings. I think it would be wise to try to get Treadwell quicker and less susceptible to being disrupted in his routes by cornerbacks. It wouldn’t shock me if Treadwell’s skill set translated immediately in the league or if he never turned into a top-tier wide receiver in the league.

I estimate his Year One campaign comes up just short of 1,000 yards while being a monster in the red zone.

Long-Term Expectations

Treadwell’s long term expectations aren’t that different than his short term expectations. He is a smart kid who has 12 years in the league in front of him if he’s able “stick.” As he gets more comfortable with his understanding of the NFL game, I foresee him being a mentor and veteran type presence in the film room even while being relatively young in the league’s eye.

Minnesota is hoping to have found their wide receiver solution for a very long time, and if Treadwell works out, I don’t see them needing to address the position seriously in the foreseeable future. The future is very bright in that scenario.

NFL Comparison

The NFL comparisons to Treadwell are wide-ranging. PlayerProfiler.com lists his best comparison as Dwayne Bowe. NFL.com lists his best comparison as DeAndre Hopkins. This couldn’t be a larger difference in dynasty value. This all comes down to what you see in the tape. I see a lot more Hopkins in his game than I do Bowe. Hopkins ran nearly a 4.6 in his combine coming in at 4.57. Some of the hands catches that Treadwell puts up are absolutely spectacular and remind me of Odell Beckham and Hopkins. Do I think Treadwell has the same upside as Hopkins and Beckham? I don’t. I do think he can be a very reliable dynasty asset for the next decade, though. That’s a tough asset to come across these days.

Treadwell also appears to have the mental strength to overcome his football shortcomings athletically. Put me on the side that believes Treadwell is a lock for WR2 production through career.

Projected Range for a Rookie Draft

As I mentioned earlier, Treadwell is a lock to be drafted in the top 4 of your rookie draft this spring. You should go in expecting him to go 1.02 in most drafts. That being said, the difference between Treadwell’s value and Ezekiel Elliot’s (1.01) is a full startup round. Elliot has catapulted into the early second round of dynasty startup drafts while Treadwell is going in the late third round of startups. If Treadwell performs in his first year and doesn’t “feel” slow to the experts, I see Treadwell having second round startup upside. I am buying Treadwell where I can until the community comes around or I’ll have to eat my hat.

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Rookie SWOT: Laquon Treadwell