Last year's draft saw a pair of gifted receivers -- Washington's Josh Doctson and Minnesota's Laquon Treadwell -- drafted back-to-back in the first round.
Instead of thriving, though, the duo combined for a massively disappointing three catches as rookies.
While Doctson aims to rebound from an injury-plagued first year in the NFL, the word on Treadwell is hopeful.
"I think he's come a long way just from what I've seen from when I got here to this point this year," Vikings quarterback Sam Bradford said of the wideout, per ESPN's Kevin Seifert. "Obviously, he's big. He's physical. He's got strong hands. It seems like he does a really good job at making contested catches when he has the opportunity. It's nice to have a guy like that to put in the back side and know you can throw it into some tight windows, and know he can come down with it."
Treadwell has made progress in camp, working with the starters on three-receiver snaps and, per Seifert, "making tough catches on intermediate routes even against well-positioned defenders." The 6-foot-2, 215-pound target also reminded people of concerns around his breakaway speed by failing to catch up to a pair of passes thrown by Bradford on Wednesday, one a deep post and the other a go route toward the left sideline.
"On both of those types of plays, he did a great job getting behind the defense," Bradford said. "It's just me giving him an opportunity to make a catch. It's one of those things working through those deep balls, working through the eight [routes], the nine [routes], everything downfield. Just trying to figure out what the trajectory those balls need to be on. I think it's a little bit different with each guy, and it's just part of developing chemistry."
With Michael Floyd set to serve a four-game ban to open the year, the Vikings desperately need Treadwell to contribute alongside Stefon Diggs and Adam Thielen. Running with the ones is a solid start, but we need to see it in game action from a first-rounder who contributed merely 15 yards off one grab in 2016.
Bradford's encouraging words suggest that production will point way up come September -- and it better.
