Brandon Lloyd no longer a Redskin

by Skin Patrol on Feb 26, 2008 7:00 PM EST in News Comment 10 comments

Brandon Lloyd was cut, released, let go, scape goated, discharged, etc. CptChaosSidekick said it and indeed, the national nightmare is finally over. Redskins.com:

Lloyd's two-year stint with the Redskins proved to be a disappointment. He was never able to establish himself in the Redskins' offense.

Redskins Insider:

As expected. The final stats: 25 receptions, zero touchdowns. For $10 million in guaranteed money.

Ryan Wilson at Fanhouse:

And so ends another chapter in the forgettable 2006 Redskins off-season. Safety Adam Archuleta barely made it through one season before getting shipped to Chicago (after collecting $10 million in guarantees, of course), and now Lloyd, the guy some Redskins coach/front-office type thought would complement Santana Moss nicely and give Jason Campbell another deep weapon, is free to work on his freestylin' skillz 24/7.

DC Sports Bog:

Lllllllllloyd... Ouch.

Redskins 360:

The moody receiver was arguably the biggest bust in Redskins history. He cost Washington a third-round draft pick and a fourth-rounder in a trade with San Francisco and was foolishly given a six-year, $30 million contract.

And I'm sure elsewhere. 110 effing posts have been made here about Brandon Lloyd, beginning with such high hopes as:

For the past 3 weeks, newly aquired Redskin WR Brandon Lloyd has contributed a training camp journal over at the official Redskins Website. Today was his 14th and final entry.

I, for one, have been a huge fan of this project.

Well that fucking changed. This "project" turned into a family-splitting science experiment gone horribly, terribly wrong. When he wasn't getting paid abnormally high amounts of moneys to do abnormally little, he was throwing temper tantrums on the field for no good reason. In sum, this decision wasn't just monumentally bad for its effects, but was fundamentally flawed from the get-go. The Washington Post chronicled at length why this was such a bad decision and the worst bits are worth repeating:

The 49ers had made it clear to all the NFL teams that Lloyd was available but some personnel people around the league wanted no part of him. "Lloyd is a 2, 2 1/2 ," said one general manager, meaning a second wide receiver at best. "Plus, he's a pain in the [rear]."...

Redskins coaches said their rankings of Lloyd only took into account what they had seen on game film. They never received from Cerrato or the scouting department any information on Lloyd having a possible attitude problem. "I was asked to evaluate him only as a player, not as a person," one coach said.

So you introduce a problem child to an old school head coach like Joe Gibbs without even permitting your staff to consider the fact that he has an attitude problem? Was he coachable? Nope:

"What I saw is that he's not coachable," the teammate said. "He would go off on [wide receivers coach] Stan Hixon all the time and say, 'Bro, that's not how it's done!' right to his face. And we would kind of laugh, like not because it was really funny, but it was funny in that uncomfortable sense of, 'I can't believe he just said that.'"

And for all that not playing on the actual field his season came to a close... during practice. What do we have to show for the "project" that was Brandon Lloyd? A dead cap hit and little else. For all the noise made about B. Lloyd, by people like me -- I said it, I owned those statements, I was wrong wrong wrong wrong -- claiming he was just a good receiver in bad situations (with Alex Smith, for instance) fact of the matter is he had stone hands. He caught 18% of the passes thrown his way last year, 41% in '06, 44% in '05, 48% in '04, and 47% in '03. He simply wasn't very good even in San Fransisco. Even if he sucked as a result of his team not being any good, it raises sincere questions about why that fact alone makes him worth a 30 million dollar contract. Sucking for a bad team is evidence that a player might not be bad. It is certainly not evidence that a player is good... for two draft picks? As Gary Fitzgerald points out:

At the time, it was thought Lloyd would provide great speed and big-play ability to the Redskins' offense.

And I'm not picking on anyone else but myself right now, because as a partisan I was claiming him viciously from day one, but why??? Why on earth did we think at that time, or any time, that a career high 733 yard receiver with a low catch % and forgettable stats elsewhere would blossom into a "speed" and "big-play ability" receiver? Was there any actual evidence that this was his skill set? Because of what he did at Illinois?

My head just exploded.

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This post reminds me...

and I can't, for the life of me, remember why I didn't recall sooner...

I have this bridge that I was gonna put on the market... but I thought I'd give you first crack at it. It is in this nice part of New York.

Oh, and are you looking into real estate? I have some that you could pry out of my hands for the right price. Ocean front even.

by TexSkins on Feb 26, 2008 7:17 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

did this save us any money

by skinsnyankees on Feb 26, 2008 7:52 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

Mistakes happen...What is the lesson?

Lloyd was more than a bust, Adam Archuleta a failure
Who was responsible?
Coaches, the front office? It does come down to Danny, who cannot PAY this kind of money to anyone outide the organization. Name a free agency pick-up, where top dollar was paid to the free agent that has worked...there is a handful, but look at all the one's it didn't work out for...Keeping the high dollar for the core redskins builds the continuity and prevents the team from getting hit again and again with non performers.
It's easy to focus on the Redskins failures, but look at MN who traded Moss to the Raiders for...
"Williamson was drafted in 2005 with the seventh overall pick, which the Vikings acquired from the Raiders for Moss. Other players which Minnesota acquired for Moss -- linebacker Napoleon Harris and cornerback Adrian Ward (picked in the seventh round via a Raiders selection) -- are no longer with the franchise, word is Williamson is heading to Jacksonville on 2/29.

How did the 49ers do?
2006 3rd round: Brandon Williams: no longer with team, now with Rams.
2007 4th round:( not sure which pick was redskins)
Jay Moore on injured reserved has not played in NFL yet
Dashon Goldson: Played in ten games in his rookie season

The trade in itself was not terrible in comparison to what the 49ers drafted however paying the money as a top-flight reciever for more than one or 2 years with minimal signing bonus was insane.
Lesson Learned: DO NOT PAY BIG SALARIES TO PLAYERS NOT ATTACHED TO THE ORGANIZATION...Or only of players with a complete known, personal relationship type as well as professional.
2007 Redskins passed the lessons learned...Stay on track and pass 2008 too!

by dr WNC on Feb 26, 2008 7:55 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

The pick...

was Jay Moore, at least according to the Wiki.

by TexSkins on Feb 26, 2008 10:43 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Agreement!

John Clayton of ESPN agrees, keep your own and leave free agents to the other teams a full day after it was stated here, maybe he reads Hogs Haven. :)

http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/columns/story?columnist=clayton_john&id=3267228

by dr WNC on Feb 27, 2008 4:26 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

biggest bust in skins history?

hardly. Shuler, Westbrook, and Desmond Howard were way, way worse... and those were only in my lifetime (I'm sure there were more).

Yeah, we paid this guy a lot, and yeah, we gave up two big picks for him. And yes, we need help at this position big time. But I think we can honestly chalk this one up as "shit happens". Lloyd was regarded around the league as an exciting player, but clearly the Redskins did not research his character problems. Obviously, that was inexcusable, but let's keep this in perspective. We made a mistake, we parted ways, and now let's move on. There's no reason to blame Danny for this -- it's not his job to scout Brandon Lloyd, it was Gibbs's/Cerrato's/the scouts' jobs. And if it wasn't for Archuleta, we'd probably be giving this move a lot less shit because of the successes of Carter and Randle-El (albeit to a lesser extent). Overpaying simply isn't a crime in the NFL anymore -- it's a way of life. We overpaid and we missed. Too bad, because a lot of our free agents from the Gibbs era (in addition to AC and ARE, Springs, London, Marcus, Daniels, Rabach, Thomas, Smoot) were great pickups. Drafting in deep rounds is something we need to do better, but this team hasn't exactly been that bad the last few years.

This isn't the worst thing ever, nor is it the Redskins biggest failure. Let's just hope the next failure isn't Jim Zorn...

by mmford10 on Feb 27, 2008 3:33 AM EST reply actions 0 recs

Agree re: biggest bust ever

A bit of hyperbole there. Two mid round draft picks aren't of the same expectation of success as a first rounder (Shuler). The money is quoted for its sheer insanity -- 30M is a lot -- but considering the amount permitted it is hardly a prohibitively costly amount.

Go Register. Or else.

by Skin Patrol on Feb 27, 2008 9:16 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs

How is...

DESMOND HOWARD A BUST?

I'm sorry, but if you win a Super Bowl MVP (that is the Most Valuable Player in helping your team win the BIGGEST GAME IN THE LEAGUE) then you automatically get removed from the "bust" list.

by TexSkins on Feb 27, 2008 1:52 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

My Insider reports

Lloyd was reported as saying:
"Don't tase me bro."

I'll miss his presence in the locker room.

by CptChaosSidekick on Feb 27, 2008 7:18 AM EST reply actions 0 recs

Awww...geez

I would have liked to have him around one more season. The coaching staff is overhauled, as is the offensive play. I figured he would have this as his last year to show something. Truly, I'm disappointed.

by JustinU804 on Feb 27, 2008 9:50 AM EST reply actions 0 recs