MINNEAPOLIS -- The Minnesota Vikings declined to exercise the fifth-year option on wide receiver Laquon Treadwell, the team announced Wednesday.
Treadwell, the 23rd overall pick in the 2016 draft, is set to become a free agent in March 2020. The receiver's option would have cost the Vikings $10.162 million next season.
The move doesn't come as a surprise, given Treadwell's production during the first three years of his career. The Ole Miss product was inactive for nearly half of his rookie campaign, appearing in nine games with one start while recording one catch for 15 yards in 2016.
Treadwell came into his third year with the Vikings as the front-runner to earn the No. 3 receiver role behind Adam Thielen and Stefon Diggs. Though last season was Treadwell's most productive to date, the 6-foot-2 wideout totaled just 35 catches for 302 yards and one touchdown while leading the team in drops with five.
During a Week 16 win against Detroit, Treadwell, a healthy scratch, was replaced in the lineup by undrafted rookie Chad Beebe.
Treadwell was the last receiver Minnesota selected with its first-round pick since drafting Cordarrelle Patterson in 2013.
