The 2016 NFL Scouting Combine finally gets underway this week, with on-field workouts beginning on Friday. One of the most intriguing prospects at wide receiver is Ole Miss wideout Laquon Treadwell, who totaled 1,153 and 11 touchdowns during his senior season last year in Oxford. Treadwell, although his 6-foot-2, 210 pound frame makes him a dangerous, larger target, doesn't show much vertical speed on film, making some NFL scouts a little wary. Now, he might not be helping his case after reports surfaced Monday claiming that Treadwell likely won't run a 40-yard dash in the Combine.
Treadwell has recently been compared to Chicago Bears wide receiver Alshon Jeffery. Jeffery had a similar skillset, as well as some of the same concerns that Treadwell has from scouts heading into the combine. Jeffrey ran a 4.49 40 at his Combine outing. According to ESPN draft analyst Mel Kiper Jr., Treadwell might have to run a 40-yard dash at the Combine in order to improve his draft stock.
"He has tremendous hands, huge hands, great size, but the comparisons to Alshon Jeffery are accurate," Kiper said during a conference call via the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. "But Alshon Jeffery was a second-round pick. We're talking about a top-10 pick here. So, he's got to run well enough to warrant being that high a pick."
Kiper projected Treadwell to go at No. 7 with the San Francisco 49ers, but that's contingent upon if he runs well at the Combine. We'll see what happens with Treadwell and if he even runs a 40-yard dash, but it looks like it could either majorly help or hurt him, depending on how he does.
