Wideouts Brandon Lloyd, Anthony Gonzalez on board By Ian R. Rapoport / Patriots Notebook Sunday, March 18, 2012 - Updated 6 hours ago
The Patriots [team stats] beefed up their receiving corps in a hurry last night, securing a playmaking receiver who had made no secret about his desire to join the team and another who had flown under the radar. The Pats agreed to a deal with free agent wideout Brandon Lloyd, a source confirmed, just hours after signing Anthony Gonzalez, the former Colts receiver and one of Peyton Manning’s old favorite targets.
The Patriots reached an agreement in principle with ex-Rams receiver Lloyd. The move, easily the team’s biggest of the offseason, gives quarterback Tom Brady [stats] a much-needed outside receiver to team up with slot machine Wes Welker. A source had previously said Lloyd, 30, communicated to Patriots players he would be “reasonable” in his demands, and it seems that was the case. A source said the deal could be worth $15.5 million over three years.
Randy Moss was the deep threat from 2007 through the early part of 2010, after which Deion Branch filled in on the outside, though the receivers other than Welker struggled last season.
Now it will be Lloyd’s turn. The 6-foot, 188-pounder hit his stride in 2010 in Denver under then-coach Josh McDaniels with 77 catches for 1,448 yards. With McDaniels as the offensive coordinator in St. Louis, Lloyd had 51 catches for 683 yards with five touchdowns in 11 games.
Pats release injury-plagued ex-Colt Gonzalez 01:00 AM Eastern Daylight Time on Wednesday, May 30, 2012 By PAUL KENYON Journal SPorts Writer
The gamble the Patriots took that Anthony Gonzalez could get himself healthy enough to return to the form he displayed early in his career apparently has not paid off.
The Pats announced Tuesday that they have released the former Indianapolis receiver, who is only 27 years old, but has been plagued by injuries over the last several seasons. The team had signed Gonzalez to a one-year contract that would have paid him $700,000 had he made the team.
Gonzalez did not take part in the team’s organized team activity (OTA) last Thursday, apparently because he was not healthy enough to do so. He had been with the team earlier doing workouts and spoke about how his health was his biggest issue. He played in only 10 games over the last three seasons and has had injuries to his back, hamstring, shoulder, knee, groin and toe.
“It’s pretty simple,” he said. “You just deal with things as they come up. I don’t go home and think to myself, ‘Oh, my gosh, I’ve been hurt all these times. How am I going to do whatever?’ My focus has always been and will continue to be, ‘What am I doing today? What am I doing tomorrow? What am I doing next week?’ and just deal with things as they come up.
Brandon Lloyd wins over Tom Brady, receivers By Karen Guregian Friday, June 15, 2012
FOXBORO — Along with the ability to make some pretty outrageous catches in traffic, there was plenty more to like about Brandon Lloyd since our initial introduction with the wide receiver a few weeks ago.
One scene that was a constant during organized team activities and minicamp was the sight of Lloyd fully engaged with Tom Brady [stats] on the sideline. At times, they seemed inseparable. And if not Brady, Lloyd would be locked in with Deion Branch and Wes Welker.
Many times, it looked like he was actually leading the discussion, offering his take on a play that had just taken place. Other times, he was an attentive listener.
Branch certainly knows what it takes to click with Brady.
If you ask him, Lloyd is making all the right initial moves with the quarterback in order to make it work. So much of being a successful receiver in New England is getting on the same page with Brady, and establishing his trust.
I'm a believer in Lloyd this year. The last time Brady had a deep threat on this level, his last name was Moss. Not expecting record breaking #'s but at his current ADP, Lloyd could be your number 2 or even your number 3 wr. Well worth it to me
Brandon Lloyd shows early, exciting signs By Karen Guregian / Patriots Beat Sunday, July 29, 2012 - Updated 24 hours ago
FOXBORO — Tom Brady [stats] wouldn’t admit it yesterday, and neither would Brandon Lloyd. The latter, in fact, treated the chemistry subject with Brady like it was the plague.
“Nope. Don’t have it. Not yet.”
If you’ve been present the past two days of training camp, however, you would think otherwise. You would believe there’s something special happening between Brady and Lloyd. The chemistry between them is obvious. And if you were around five years ago when Randy Moss and Brady were first hooking up on the practice field, that’s what immediately comes to mind.
The similarities are striking.
Let’s start with the crowd sound. If you close your eyes and just listen to the reaction of the training camp crowd, it’s easy to tell when Brady hooks up with certain receivers. There’s a distinct roar heard for Rob Gronkowski, another sound when Wes Welker makes a catch, and something entirely different when Brady and Lloyd connect.
It was the same way for Brady and Moss that first season.
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