Rams Acquire Brandon Lloyd
Added on Oct 17, 2011 by Jack Thurman in
The St. Louis Rams have been devastated by injuries this season and on Monday they made a personnel move to help ameliorate the damage. St. Louis acquired wide receiver Brandon Lloyd from the Denver Broncos for a future draft pick.
Lloyd showed no hard feelings about the move, saying that he views it as “a positive situation” and that he hopes he can provide a “jolt of confidence” to the winless Rams.
“I don’t see a terrible situation. I see it as a positive situation.”
Broncos President John Elway thank Lloyd for his service:
“We appreciate all the hard work that Brandon did during his three years in Denver and wish him the best with the Rams.”
He continued to express confidence with the current group of wide receivers:
“I’m excited about our wide receiver group — This is as healthy as we’ve been at that position since the start of the year. Our young WRs have really emerged and made some plays, and this is a great opportunity for them to continue to step up.”
In a separate move, the Rams released wide receiver Mike Sims-Walker who thanked the team for the stay:
“Wanna thank the rams organization and fans for the short stay, I am a better player and Man because of yall, best of luck.”
Lloyd will find at least one familiar face waiting for him in St. Louis–the Rams’ offensive coordinator is Josh McDaniels who was the coach of the Denver Broncos until last year. Under McDaniels, Lloyd was one of the best wide receivers in the league finishing with 1,448 yards receiving, catching 77 passes, 11 of them for touchdowns. Lloyd is 30 years old and in the final year of a contract that will pay him $1.4 million this season. It’s a good move for the Rams–he’ll be a free agent after this year but if he bounces back and once again becomes a top receiver St. Louis can lock him up to a deal.
The Rams also have a concern with the health of quarterback Sam Bradford. Bradford is listed as ‘questionable’ for this weekend’s game against the Dallas Cowboys. The NFL betting line for the game has the Rams listed as a +11 point road underdog with the total set at 44′.