Three years into his career with the Minnesota Vikings, the young wide receiver has still not been able to prove that he has what it takes to succeed in the NFL.
It was already bad enough for the Minnesota Vikings when the New Orleans Saints recovered an Adam Thielen fumble and returned it 54 yards the other way during the second quarter of Sunday night’s matchup.
But then to make matters even worse, Vikings receiver Laquon Treadwell chose to make an idiotic decision and slam his helmet on the field following the fumble return. Treadwell’s actions cost Minnesota another 15 yards and the Saints offense took over with the ball on the Vikings’ 18-yard line.
His 15-yard penalty on Sunday was just the latest in the never-ending, underwhelming saga that the young receiver has been going through ever since he arrived in the Twin Cities three years ago.
Minnesota Vikings
Selected in the first round by the Vikings during the 2016 NFL Draft, Treadwell has a total of just 46 catches for 431 yards and one touchdown in two and half seasons. His teammate, Thielen, eclipsed those numbers in just five games this year.
In 2018, thanks to Minnesota’s pass-happy offense, Treadwell has already set new single-season career highs for catches (25), yards (216), and touchdowns (one). However, the receiver is also averaging just 8.6 yards per catch this year and he leads the team with four drops.
Treadwell’s best game this season was back in Week 4 against the Los Angeles Rams when he caught four passes for 47 yards. For a guy that was a first-round draft pick less than three years ago, there is really no other way to describe his performance other than just flat-out embarrassing.
Despite his lack of production and his 67.6 percent catch rate, Minnesota still insists on putting Treadwell out on the field over other receivers that could actually contribute to the offense.
Aldrick Robinson was signed midway through the season and he already has three touchdown catches this year. Averaging 19 yards per reception this season, why shouldn’t the Vikings give Robinson more snaps moving forward?
Even 25-year-old Brandon Zylstra, who has seen limited action in 2018. What does Treadwell do so much better that is preventing Minnesota from giving a guy like Zylstra a chance to make an impact?
What exactly is Treadwell’s value to the Vikings? The coaching staff loves to rave about how good of a blocker he is. Well that’s great, but Minnesota didn’t use a first-round pick on Treadwell to block downfield.
No matter how much he says, his teammates say, or his coaches say that he has progressed and he has improved as a player as each week goes by, it doesn’t matter because that’s not the truth. Treadwell provided nothing to the Vikings’ offense during his first two years with the team and it’s more of the same this season.
He was already an unreliable receiver and now he’s costing Minnesota valuable yards with dumb penalties. It’s time for the Vikings to bite the bullet and give someone else a chance because Treadwell has run out of his.