Not that Brandon.

At the Washington Times blog Redskins 360, David Elfin calls for cutting our now #3 wide receiver:

My initial reaction was that David had jumped the gun on this though it deserves a fair shake.

What flustered me most about Brandon Lloyd last year wasn't the zero touchdowns, although that was the effect of overall disappointing production, nor was it even the illustrious thrown helmet, although that proved symptomatic of general malcontentedness. Rather it was this exchange documented by Jason Canfora back in January:

So much is wrong here. Even if Lloyd's account is true, which I find doubtful, you don't throw your quarterback under the bus in just his fifth NFL start. Second, you don't issue edicts to your coach; if anyone should have discussed the play with the quarterback, it should've been Lloyd. Finally, to that point Lloyd had ~ 350 yards on the season and zero touchdowns. Take some responsibility.

Now that you're buttered up, I'll make the case for cutting Brandon Lloyd, though I disagree with it.

Much of what Elfin levels at Lloyd is true. He is a bust relative to his salary; he's paid #2 WR money yet is playing at the #3 WR position. He did throw his helmet during a game (though cutting him for that would be a fairly tardy penalty). And this roster is loaded to survive a Brandon Lloyd cut at WR. With the addition of Bradford to the roster, we could still make a 5 WR unit that is respectable without Lloyd, something like: Moss, Randle-El, Thrash, Bradford, Espy. How reader(s) feel about that lineup depends on whether they think Thrash is comparable to Lloyd. Football Outsiders says they aren't; Thrash was simply better in '06.

Moving to financials, per PC's Salary page updated July 28th, and I always butcher this shit, we've got Lloyd at ~2.4M against the cap for 2007 with that number escalating by 1.8M in 2008 on "Other Bonuses" and the base salary growing from ~600K to 3.5M by 2009. We're not paying that 2009 excepting substantial increase in production and value out of Brandon Lloyd. So, for me, the question is whether he's cut this year or next year.

If I'm reading it right, which I'm probably not, he had 10M guaranteed of which we've paid off just ~1.8M. Per Redskins Insider last December:

PC says we're $6.612m under the cap as of July 28th, which doesn't include the Landry contract.

I say all that to cast partial doubt on Elfin's assertion that we could afford to cut him easily. I don't know where Chris Cooley and his agent are relative to the 'Skins, so I can't say with certainty that we can afford to cut Lloyd and sign Cooley. That depends on how much Cooley costs. Thus I vote to keep Lloyd at least one additional year (to chip away at 1.8M of that guaranteed money) due to the fact that I care more about signing Cooley than I do about ridding us of Brandon Lloyd.

Having reviewed the numbers, I don't think my initial reaction was warranted. David Elfin is on to something here, maybe, but I cannot endorse that action without additional numbers relating to Cooley. What I think is certain, at this point, is that Brandon Lloyd will not see the entirety of his contract with the Redskins, as it will proverbially be thrown out, with the escalating base salary representing the bathwater and Brandon Lloyd representing the baby, perhaps appropriately.

Nothing would make me happier than for Lloyd to win the #2 WR job next year, get ~700-800 yards and 6-8 touchdowns, and earn his way into that contract. I would love to be wrong about Brandon.

AOL Fanhouse, Some People Think the Redskins Should Cut Brandon Lloyd