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St. Louis Rams free agent wide receiver Brandon Lloyd made a Boston-area media appearance on Thursday. Lloyd told Tom Curran of Comcast Sportsnet that was still very much interested in the New England Patriots and, of course, a reunion with Josh McDaniels.
Lloyd's comments do not directly say that he favors the Patriots above all other teams, but it sure sounds as though he leans that way. However, his preference for playing under McDaniels might not be all he expects it to be with Bill Belichick and Tom Brady's Patriots.
"Very interested," Lloyd said when asked about his interest in signing with the Patriots. "And like I said earlier, I admire Coach Bill (Belichick), I admire Tom Brady, I admire how they run things over there. For any receiver to be considered to come in and play on the New England Patriots is gonna be excited just because of the history of success."
Belichick, Brady and being a perennial Super Bowl contender aside, it was McDaniels that attracts him to New England the most.
"He gives me a bunch of routes to run and he treats me like a true No. 1 receiver in the sense that I get to do all the things that make a team have to prepare for me and maybe not be able to prepare for other facets of our offense," Lloyd said. "It helps everybody be successful. A lot of receivers in Denver had over 45, 50 catches. It's just the creativity and how he's able to get everybody involved in the game and incorporate explosive plays in there as well."
That "No. 1" receiver thing might be more of a problem in New England than with other teams.
The Patriots have Wes Welker, Rob Gronkowski and Aaron Hernandez as the top targets for Brady. Lloyd would definitely be a good complement as a deep threat in that offense, but he may find it hard to get 45 or 50 receptions with that array of weapons and Brady's long-standing relationship with Welker.
Bill Belichick may also have reservations about paying Lloyd $6 or $7 million per year to be a complementary part of their offense. New England can just as easily move around their two first-round picks and find a deep threat in the second round of the draft for far less money. And with so many needs on defense, New England may have to prioritize their offseason expenses.