Ole Miss wide receiver Laquon Treadwell is one of the bigger names in this year’s draft. As likely the biggest outside play maker, his name has been thrown around Cowboys conversations with the fourth overall pick to add a dynamic target for Tony Romo across from Dez Bryant.
With Bryant locked up on a franchise deal, it’s time the Cowboys found a legitimate long-term #2 target to maximize the production they get out of Dez. While WR isn’t the most glaring need for Dallas, the following clips from Treadwell stand for themselves in displaying his talent ceiling – which is high enough to make things interesting with his name on the board and the Cowboys on the clock.
Without further introduction, let’s enter the film room on Laquon Treadwell:
The above clip is the perfect place to start with watching Treadwell. You get a feel for his overall smoothness in route running, as he gets himself open and then secures the catch firmly with his hands (cough cough, Terrance Williams). He then breaks away from the defenders and – on sole individual effort – gets to the end zone.
The first thing you notice with Treadwell is that he is ALWAYS trying to make a play. Whether it’s turning a short pass into a long gain, taking the top off the defense, or run blocking in the below clip.
While the first catch shown from Treadwell was a relatively low degree of difficulty, he certainly has no problem making contested catches. After a gruesome injury suffered in 2014, Treadwell bounced back in his final collegiate season to record 1,153 yards and 11 touchdowns in 13 games.
For good measure, let’s watch Treadwell complete a pass! If only he was here in 2015, and could throw the ball instead of Cassel and Weeden – to himself. Anyway, this strike was right on the money!
This next play features some very solid coverage against Treadwell. Asides from the safety getting over late, this is played well by the secondary of Oklahoma State. Laquon is able to make the defense pay for a small mistake, snagging a touchdown while making it look effortless. While he may struggle to get such free releases early in his NFL career, in time, he has the chance to be one of the most balanced receivers in the league.
Treadwell has drawn comparisons to Dez Bryant, and this play here has to remind some people of #9 throwing to #88. The last-minute adjustment Treadwell is able to make for this ball is something that can’t easily be taught – but seems to come naturally to the 6′ 2″ target.
As an SEC WR, Treadwell consistently went up against some of the best defenses in the country. Here he is in 2014, doing THIS against Alabama.
Did I mention Treadwell reminds people of Dez Bryant?
While the prospect of the Cowboys welcoming Tony Romo back to training camp and assuring him he’s not seeing double when looking at Dez Bryant and fourth overall pick Laquon Treadwell is more than awesome, there are a number of other talented receivers for Dallas to add in the later rounds.
I will begin to take a look at those as we move forward in draft coverage here at Inside the Star, but for now we can contimplate if Laquon Treadwell is a viable pick at fourth overall.
What do you think? Let me know with a comment below, or let’s talk draft on Twitter @ShoreSportsNJ!
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Gotta say RJ, this made me think a lot haha. No one is getting me off of Goff though outside of the Cleveland Browns.
Treadwell is a good prospect, but nowhere near the projected status he's being projected in. In a typically stocked draft with top tier receiving talent (i.e. A.G. Green, Julio Jones, etc.), Treadwell is a backend 1st round prospect. To his credit, he may be the most well-rounded receiver in the draft due to his blocking prowess, but I don't see dynamic receiving skills that would make him a bonafide #1 receiver at the next level. To me, he reminds me a lot of Michael Floyd (former Notre Dame standout) of the Cardinals.
Treadwell reminds me of Alshon Jeffery and Justin Blackmon. Not Dez. Worst case scenario he ends up M. Sanu.
Alshon would be awesome!
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Funny, that's exactly how I feel about Goff, Wentz, and the quarterback class in general. Maybe we should just steer clear of offense completely in the early rounds.
Well, my view on that is it's all a matter of perspective.
We are Cowboys fans picking at #4 with pretty much everyone in the whole draft in play. I think because of that, we tend to "poo poo" a lot of guys. It's almost like a "grass is always greener" concept where so many of us are now saying "Well shoot, this is just a crappy draft to be picking #4 in the first place — why couldn't we have had the #4 pick back in the Andrew Luck/RGIII draft?"
I think it's a fallacy, though. Do you know how badly the Eagles want one of those top three quarterbacks to fall to them? You go to an Eagles forum (which I do occasionally) and you'll see guys swooning over these quarterbacks and wishing they could have the opportunity to draft Jared Goff. Or like Patriots fans who hate it that they won't be able to draft Treadwell, etc.
I've found myself doing it. I wasn't very high on Jalen Ramsey until it was pointed out to me that the Chargers are highly likely to be targeting him at #3 to replace Eric Weddle. Now suddenly I find myself thinking "man, I hope they pass on him so the Cowboys can get him."
I think it's all about perspective when you're a team fan. Always want what you can't have, and since we can have pretty much anyone, everybody looks like shit. lol