Is Lloyd's Patriotic bent hurting him?

Maybe Brandon Lloyd was a little too open about his preferred employer in 2012. If Lloyd wants to be a Patriot and the Patriots would like him to be a Patriot, why should any other team buy him a plane ticket and spend a day introducing him around the facility? That's the prevailing reasoning among the NFL people I've spoken to when I asked why all's been quiet on the Brandon Lloyd front. He didn't appear to be keeping his options open. With the initial burst of free agency subsiding and all the best wideouts on the market having settled at new addresses, Lloyd remains on the market. He did visit the San Francisco 49ers but sources close to the team there speculate that was a favor done for agent Tom Condon. The Niners host Lloyd, show the rest of the league - and specifically the Patriots - that Lloyd has a market and, somewhere down the road, Condon makes business easier for the Niners on some future deal. Happens a lot. But back to Lloyd. This week has been all about wide receivers. Vincent Jackson, Marques Colston, Robert Meachem, Pierre Garcon, Reggie Wayne, Josh Morgan and Laurent Robinson have all signed somewhere. Garcon - who hasn't had a season remotely as productive as Lloyd - got a five-year, 42 million deal from the Redskins. And Lloyd hasn't had a reported sniff except from the Niners. The level of contact between the Patriots and Lloyd is unknown. What is known is the affinity of offensive Josh McDaniels for Lloyd and the receiver's belief that McDaniels is the man he wants to play for. A week ago, Lloyd told me he was "very interested in hearing the Patriots pitch."Are the Patriots still standing on the mound looking in for the sign or have they delivered their pitch and LloydCondon judged it too low.

The dynamic that now exists is that Lloyd could (and this is speculation because I haven't had contact with him) become indignant over having been stood up. And given the history between Condon and the Patriots, the agent will not be bending over backward to make sure he facilitates a team-friendly deal when the rest of the league is stuffing millions in the waistbands of middling wideouts. The Patriots will use leverage to their benefit. And if they don't have it, they may try to create it (Danny Amendola?). Lloyd gave the Patriots all the leverage they needed by making it very clear he wanted to play in New England. In the end, the Patriots' offense will be better with Lloyd in it. They have the belly to wait things out. We'll see if Brandon Lloyd has the patience.