Brandon Lloyd to New England Patriots: Dominoes Falling into Place

The only sensible climax to the slow crescendo of rumors tying wide receiver Brandon Lloyd to the New England Patriots is the pen touching the paper on the dotted line, and the dominoes are falling into place to make that happen.

Reunion

The whole chain of events started as an innocent statement that Lloyd would like to follow offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels wherever he went, according to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Those words were a gentle brush, just enough to knock the first domino over. The second domino didn't take long to fall into place, when McDaniels signed on to become the Patriots new OC.

It's obvious why Lloyd would want to follow McDaniels. His production grew exponentially upon joining forces with McHoodie, and as the marriage was so profitable for both sides, it seemed appropriate that the student would follow the teacher.

Road Block Averted

It looked like the dominoes may stop falling when Lloyd signed with player agent Tom Condon, who has been at odds with the Patriots for years, but he quickly got out of the way this time (unlike with tight end Ben Watson).

According to Ron Borges of the Boston Herald, though, Condon said, "[If] he wants to go to the team that pays him the most money, wonderful. If he wants to go to a team that pays him less but where he feels there’s better opportunity for success, wonderful. He’ll make that decision."

What Does Lloyd Want?

That just left the table open to speculation as to whether he wanted better money or better opportunity for success. He shed some light on that in an interview with Tom E. Curran of CSNNE.com:

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"Winning is definitely the highest priority," he said. "I've been in the league for ten years now and I don't look at the NFL as a place where I can hoard money and get as much as I can because it's the end of the world."

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He added that he's "pretty happy with where [he is] financially," so money seems like the least of his concerns.

Since the Patriots will be investing a good deal of money at wide receiver with the franchise tagging of Wes Welker (estimated $9.4 million for 2012), chances are they won't be forking over big bucks in free agency. That they can likely get Lloyd on the cheap only improves the odds that the dominoes will keep falling.

A Perfect Fit

All this and we haven't even gotten to the fact that Lloyd is a perfect fit for Patriots offense. That just happens to be the biggest issue when it comes to whether a free agent wide receiver ends up being a boom or a bust in New England.

In an interview with Colin Cowherd on ESPN's The Herd, Lloyd said, "I know the X's and O's in New England. I know that offense very well."

His physical attributes and his abilities as a deep threat notwithstanding, that may be the most important thing he brings to the table.

New England knows what they're getting in Lloyd. The same can't be said for when they added Chad Ochocinco and Joey Galloway, two ultra-talented receivers that never played in a precision offense like what the Patriots run. 

What's more, the fact that he has produced so consistently in that system is evidence of what he can bring to the table should New England pull the trigger. The Patriots absolutely need a player who can stretch the field horizontally, forcing defenders away from the middle of the field. They relied on it heavily in 2011, and when defenses were able to take that away from them, they had no answer.

Lloyd would provide a quick one.

From an economic and football perspective, the Patriots and Lloyd are yin and yang. At this point, it seems the only domino that's left to fall is the clock striking 12:00:01am on March 13.

Follow @ErikFrenz