Is this the week rookie receiver Laquon Treadwell finally starts making plays for the Minnesota Vikings?
Treadwell was the 23rd pick in the draft and he’s the only non-quarterback from the first round that isn’t playing. According to Pro Football Focus, the former Ole Miss star has been on the field for just 11 snaps this season. The only other first-round pick to play less is Jared Goff, the No. 1 overall pick who is learning on the bench as a rookie QB in Los Angeles.
A couple of other first rounders haven’t played any snaps but they are out with injuries.
Meanwhile, Stefon Diggs, Adam Thielen and now Cordarrelle Patterson are the only wideouts doing anything for Minnesota’s 29th-ranked passing offense. Johnson has just 6 catches in six games and Wright has 4 catches in two games.
In last Sunday’s loss to Philadelphia, Minnesota only had four receivers active for the game while Treadwell sat on the bench with a thumb injury.
Here’s a list of every wide receiver taken in the first four rounds of the draft. Eleven of them have outproduced Treadwell.
- 15. Corey Coleman – 7 catches, 173 yards, 2 TD (injured)
- 21. Will Fuller – 24 catches, 349 yards, 2 TD
- 22. Josh Doctson – 2 catches, 66 yards (injured)
- 40. Sterling Shepard – 31 catches, 334 yards, 2 TD
- 47. Michael Thomas – 36 catches, 437 yards, 3 TD
- 55. Tyler Boyd – 20 catches, 245 yards
- 85. Braxton Miller – 5 catches, 34 yards
- 86. Leonte Carroo – 2 catches, 14 yards
- 107. Chris Moore – 6 catches, 41 yards
- 112. Malcolm Mitchell – 6 catches, 82 yards
- 114. Ricardo Louis – 14 catches, 151 yards
- 117. Pharoh Cooper – 0 catches
- 126. Demarcus Robinson – 0 catches
And fifth-round picks Tajae Sharpe of the Titans (22 catches, 248 yards) and Kansas City’s Tyreek Hill (14 catches, 125 yards, 3 TD) have both outplayed Treadwell, too.
Who’s to blame? Maybe nobody. Vikings head coach Mike Zimmer is notorious for bringing rookies along slowly. He did it with Diggs and 2015 first-round pick Trae Waynes.
“He has to continue to do better in practice,” Zimmer said of Treadwell in September, via NFL.com. “He’s working, just biding his time until he gets an opportunity like how (Stefon) Diggs was last year. I still think he’s thinking about the number of steps to take on each route and things like that, being at the right depth.”
