Should the Pats bring Brandon Lloyd back?

[MoneyFX]

Patriots definitely need to keep him. The depth is lacking at the moment. He produced very well for a guy that didn't cost much to get. I think he'll be even better next year, with a year of playing with Brady under his belt.

 

[supafly]

Everything you're both saying is true and it's a great way to move the ball down the field methodically to a score. But it's a front running mentality. It works very well so long as the Pats are winning or not behind too much. The problem I see is the Pats don't have the explosive quick strike threat to score quickly when needed the most. Opponents know the formula to beat the Pats is to play nickel, pack the middle and give Lloyd single coverage. Lloyd couldn't pull additional coverage his way to help open the middle. That to me is his biggest failing.

Many here want to point to Lloyd's production as the reason to keep him. It should be pointed out that Lloyd had 1/2 his total production for the year in just 4 games. All were losses. What I saw was that when good defenses packed the middle with the lead, when the Pats needed him most, he wasn't able to lead them to victory.

The Pats need an X receiver with speed as an outside threat to pull coverage for the short passing game to continue to be successful. (And with a healthy Gronk, it would be wildly sucessful.)



Plus the additional 3 days before free agency begins of legal tampering.
edit: Negotiations w/ FAs can begin on March 9th.

All fair points, but the biggest concern I think is gambling to try and upgrade, but ending up with either a downgrade or status quo. If that happens for lesser money, that's one thing, but that's a big 'if.'

Just out of curiosity, who would you see as a potential replacement in the period of Mar.9th--Mar.16th? Are there several names that come to mind?

That's my biggest worry, is that there just don't seem to be any real options.

 

[JoeSixPat]

I agree. The problem I see is that there don't seem to be too many realistic candidates out there that would fall between the Llyod salary and that of something reasonable. I don't think we're going all the way up to the top tiers of WR FA's, do you? This is also all taking into acct the fact that we re-sign Wes Welker.

Nothing would surprise me. Belichick has been running a short ball system for quite a few years, and doing well with it

But now with shifts in the division such as Jets previously strong secondary looking to get weaker, if there is an opportunity to give Brady the type of WR corps he was so dominant with in 2007 I can see that happening.

With three strong TEs already on the roster there could be a feeling that the short to mid range game is well covered and an investment in a vertical game is what will help Brady "win now"

If the team wants to skimp, then they can gamble on another $3 million player and come away with the next Brandon Lloyd (good, but not supplying the vertical threat desired)

If they want a higher likelihood of a deep threat, yes, they very may well need to pay for it.