With the 23rd pick in the 2016 NFL Draft, the Minnesota Vikings select … Laquon Treadwell, wide receiver, Mississippi.
That could be the call from NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell when the Vikings call their pick in a week from today, and it will be the call according to ESPN’s Todd McShay’s latest mock draft (ESPN Insider required).
“With outstanding hand-eye coordination and body control, Treadwell is highly effective on contested throws and jump balls. He’d give QB Teddy Bridgewater a receiver who can consistently win on short-to-intermediate throws. Great value at No. 23, too.”
McShay isn’t the only one picking Treadwell to Minnesota. Check out these mocks, too.
Treadwell comes with two big questions:
- Is he fast enough?
- Should teams worry about his brutal injury in 2014?
Treadwell ran a 4.63 40-yard dash at his pro day and despite dominating the SEC as a junior last season, there are questions about the nasty injury he suffered a year earlier, when he suffered a broken leg and dislocated ankle while clawing his way to the goal line late in the fourth quarter of a game against LSU.
To help dismiss concerns about his past injury, Treadwell wrote a contributing piece for The Players’ Tribune urging teams to take notice of his “championship mindset.”
“So on draft night, when you are looking for a playmaker — a guy who can read defenses to get open, a guy who can move the chains, a guy who will battle for every jump ball and every touchdown — know that I am ready to do each one of those things on a professional level.
And if you draft me, I will work hard from day one.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=1&v=8a1RR5jECNc
Treadwell told ESPN that he played the 2015 season on “one leg.” As for his speed, or lack there of, ESPN’s Matt Bowen says Treadwell is “going to own the middle of the field, produce after the catch and rip up defenses in the red zone.”
NFL.com listed Treadwell as the second-best receiver in the draft, just behind Notre Dame’s Will Fuller, who they say has game-breaking speed by questionable hands. If that won’t remind Vikings fans of Troy Williamson then we don’t know what will.
