Stock Down
Laquon Treadwell had his worst day of practice, making several mistakes and struggling to get into a rhythm with Teddy Bridgewater. Even in individual drills, with no defense, Bridgewater and Treadwell weren’t connecting. Treadwell dropped a pass and seemingly ran a few routes incorrectly as he struggled to gel with Teddy. In 11 on 11s, Treadwell slipped and fell twice mid-route and jumped offside before the snap once. Overall, Treadwell struggled to make an impact today. It’s still far too early to panic about the first-rounder, but hopefully he can string together a few good practices in the last week of camp.
Xavier Rhodes really struggled today, having trouble with both Stefon Diggs and Charles Johnson. Rhodes lost his balance a number of times in coverage, having to put a hand on the ground to steady himself as a receiver cut, and allowed a lot of balls to be caught on him. Rhodes has struggled to deal with quickness thus far, allowing himself to be faked out by quick jab steps and head fakes. Rhodes did slightly redeem himself at the end of a very disappointing day, grabbing an interception off of Teddy Bridgewater in the end zone in the final session of 11 on 11 drills, but overall he was not good on the day. Today continued a trend of poor days for Rhodes, who will need to improve his play before the season starts.
Adam Thielen followed up yesterday’s impressive performance with a bad day, struggling with drops throughout practice. In addition to dropping a short pass from Teddy on a hitch early in the day, Thielen couldn’t come down with a pass in 1 on 1s, allowing Captain Munnerlyn to reach in and break it up. Like Rhodes, Thielen redeemed himself a little at the end of practice with a diving touchdown grab in red zone work, but overall his day was inconsistent and disappointing. Thielen has been getting a lot of run with the first team early in camp, but he’ll need to show better hands to prove he can succeed in a featured role.
Jabari Price has been struggling in coverage early in camp, and today he continued that trend. Price was beaten on several occasions, most notably when Isaac Fruechte knocked him completely to the ground on a comeback route and made the catch in the end zone in 1 on 1s. Price did have a nice pass breakup on a pass to Laquon Treadwell in the end zone, but overall he struggled on the day. Price will have to show much better in coverage to prove himself worthy of a spot in a crowded cornerback group.
Next: Training camp: Day 5 stock report
Training camp continues tomorrow with a walk-through from 10:30-11:30 and a full practice from 2:45-5:00. Josh Zinger will be in Mankato covering camp until the 6th, so follow him on twitter for live updates and observations from practice, and look for his stock reports at the end of each day. Follow @jzingz