Laquon Treadwell’s turbulent time with the Minnesota Vikings has come to an end, but is he the biggest draft bust in franchise history?
Wide receiver Laquon Treadwell’s time with the Minnesota Vikings is finally over. The former first-round pick has a fresh start after a hugely unsuccessful spell with the organization.
Much was expected of Treadwell when the Vikings took him with the 23rd overall pick out of Ole Miss in 2016. To say the wide receiver has underachieved during his time in Minnesota would be a massive understatement.
A category of errors during his tenor with the franchise caused Minnesota to cut the player last summer. He was eventually brought back to provide depth, but he failed to do enough to turn his career around.
Treadwell now has a new home after reportedly signing a one-year deal with the Atlanta Falcons. He was never expected to re-sign with Minnesota and a fresh start might be just what he needs to finally start fulfilling his potential.
He is still young enough at 24-years-old to turn his career around, although this is now a significant task given the struggles he has encountered so far. Treadwell now joins a long list of first-round picks who the Vikings made a huge commitment to and failed to live up to expectations.
The wide receiver’s time in Minnesota will not be remembered fondly by the team’s fanbase. But is Treadwell the organization’s biggest draft bust ever?
Treadwell’s career in Minnesota
The Vikings made a huge leap of faith by using their first-round selection on Laquon Treadwell in 2016. It’s safe to say the player did not live up to his end of the bargain.
Treadwell was hardly used during his rookie campaign to allow the receiver to adjust to the strains of the NFL. He was targeted just three times, catching one ball for nine yards.
Bigger things were expected in 2017 for Treadwell after a year to further develop and hone his route running ability. He was on the field for 45 percent of the team’s offensive snaps and secured 20 of 35 targets for 200 yards.
What was also evident during this period was Treadwell’s problems holding onto the football. He displayed a real tentativeness when catching under pressure and it is a problem that continues to haunt his production to this day.
If the Vikings were hoping for more from him in 2018, they were sadly disappointed. Treadwell was used slightly more prominently, playing in 52 percent of the offense’s snaps, but he was found wanting when it mattered most once again.
He eventually secured 35 of 53 targets for 325 yards and the first touchdown of his NFL career. That told only half the story, with frustrations regarding Treadwell’s lack of playmaking ability on a consistent basis clearly indicating that patience was wearing thin.
This eventually saw Treadwell released due to his poor performance. His stay away from the franchise was short-lived and he still managed to play 13 regular-season games for the Vikings in 2019.
With a total of nine catches for 184 yards and a touchdown last season, this was the final nail in the coffin of the receiver’s career with Minnesota.
How will Treadwell’s time in Minnesota be remembered?
Laquon Treadwell will be remembered as a promising prospect that found things extremely tough with the Vikings. How his NFL career, overall, will be looked back on is up to him.
The writing was on the wall very early on regarding Treadwell. He found the adjustment to the pros extremely difficult and this might have been highlighted more predominantly had it not been for the elite production of wide receiver duo Adam Thielen and Stefon Diggs.
When Treadwell was given the opportunities to shine and make a name for himself, he did not deliver. Players at the receiver spot who make lapses in judgment for a prolonged spell do not last in the NFL long. Treadwell does have plenty going for him in terms of physical attributes, but this has not translated to strong performances on the field.
This was a shame both for the receiver and the Vikings. There was a real chance for Treadwell to stamp his authority on a roster that was crying out for offensive help at the time. That opportunity passed him by quickly and it was clear that the coaching staff and fans had lost all faith.
Whether the first-round selection brought pressure he couldn’t cope with is up for debate. Treadwell was given more than enough time to learn the ropes to give him the best possible chance of making a success of his time in Minnesota.
The desire and self-assurance displayed by Treadwell did not match his ability to come through in the clutch. The game just seemed to pass him by and his performances in a Vikings uniform will not live long in the memory.
Other recent Vikings’ draft busts
Laquon Treadwell has some strong competition in recent history if he is to be considered as the Vikings biggest ever draft bust.
There are plenty of first-round candidates that warrant consideration over the last 20 years. One of these is offensive tackle Matt Kalil, who was taken fourth overall and failed to build on a Pro Bowl rookie campaign before eventually being shipped out.
Another who performed well initially, but tailed off even more rapidly was defensive end Erasmus James. He was part of a hugely disappointing 2005 draft class and was eventually let go in 2008 after a series of disappointing displays.
The ill-fated 2005 NFL Draft also saw the Vikings take Troy Williamson with a first-round pick (seventh overall). If Minnesota’s fan base was hoping Williamson was going to become an heir apparent to Hall of Famer Randy Moss, they were sadly mistaken.
Williamson struggled to bring in targets despite his speed getting him into promising positions. He eventually finished with a total of just 1,131 yards and four touchdowns in three seasons.
Plenty of eyebrows were raised when the Vikings took quarterback Christian Ponder with the 12th pick in 2011. Their skepticism was justified regarding the quarterback, who completed just 59.8 percent of his passes in the four years he was under center for the franchise during a spell littered with inconsistencies and poor decision-making.
And who could forget 1999 first-round selection Dimitrius Underwood? He was taken with the 29th pick and did not play one down for the franchise.
The defensive end had plenty of red flags coming out of Michigan State and walked away from a lucrative contract just two days after signing it. It has since been revealed that Underwood suffered from battles with mental health that impacted his decision to walk away from the NFL.
Where does Treadwell rank?
When you look at Laquon Treadwell’s production compared to the other first-round busts on the list, he is right up there when it comes to failed Vikings prospects.
In truth, Treadwell’s failure to live up to his promise is another sad tale of a high-end pick in Minnesota that went wrong. No college prospect is a sure thing, but the Vikings have had their fair share of trouble drafting players who can re-shape a franchise.
This falls on the decision-makers who evaluate this talent and it is a mistake Minnesota simply cannot make with their 12 selections in 2020. With so many holes in different areas, it is going to be essential they identify prospects who can come in and produce immediately.
Treadwell might be one of, if not the No.1 player on the biggest busts list in Minnesota. But he now has a chance to prove his doubters wrong on an Atlanta Falcons offense that has a formidable receiver tandem in Julio Jones and Calvin Ridley.
Fitting into a new franchise is never easy. Treadwell knows this will possibly be his last chance to have a prolonged NFL career and that added pressure will either make or break him in 2020.
It’s sad when things don’t go as expected, both in the NFL and life in general. How you pick yourself up is a testament of your character and although Treadwell gave out good signals during interviews with the Vikings, his time with the franchise was almost doomed from the outset.