ENGLEWOOD, Colo.—Brandon Lloyd can’t blame fantasy football owners for ignoring him on draft day, even now that he’s been snatched up on waivers in probably every league out there.
After all, he was basically banished from the Denver Broncos’ game-day roster last year, when he was deactivated for the first 14 weeks before finishing the year with eight catches.
A year before that, Lloyd caught just 26 balls in Chicago, which was one more reception that he had in Washington the two previous seasons combined.
“I think it was just a numbers game last year. Nobody got hurt and I never got an opportunity to play,” Lloyd said.
With Brandon Marshall now in Miami, Lloyd has emerged as one of the league’s biggest surprises with 25 receptions for 454 yards—just two yards shy of NFL leader Reggie Wayne.
He’s tied with Philadelphia’s DeSean Jackson for the league lead with a half dozen catches of 25 or more yards and is the biggest reason quarterback Kyle Orton has amassed the second-most yards passing through the first month of the season in NFL history.
“He’s probably one of the most explosive guys that I’ve been around, not just in terms of straight-line speed, but he’s one of the better jumpers that I’ve ever seen,” said Orton, who also played with Lloyd in Chicago in 2008. “Making plays on the sidelines, contorting his body and making plays and still being able to catch the ball, he’s very good at that stuff.”
At this rate, Lloyd will surpass his best season—2005 with the San Francisco 49ers, when he caught 48 passes for 733 yards—before kids can even fill up their bags with candy.
Lloyd said he never wondered if he still had it when he kept getting deactivated.
“No, because the coaching staff really gets me,” he said. “They know how I motivate myself and how I study and prepare. They get me. That’s what it was. It was a numbers game.”
Lloyd came to Denver in June 2009 and wasn’t versatile enough or sufficiently up to speed early to earn any playing time, but he kept his chin up and tried not to get down.
“It was really hard. It was just like sitting there complaining to (receivers coach) Adam Gase, cussing at him and he’s just sitting there with his arms folded like, ‘All right, all right.’ Like, ‘I know, I know, I know.’ That’s all he could say,” Lloyd recounted. “Like I said, they know how hard I prepare and how hard I work and how I practice and how I play.”
Lloyd finally played at Philadelphia on Dec. 27 and had four receptions for 22 yards. A week later, with Marshall suspended, Lloyd had four catches against Kansas City for 95 yards, proving he still had big gains—and big games—left in him.
“Brandon is a very talented player. I have a great deal of respect and admiration for him,” coach Josh McDaniels said. “He went through a lot last year. He stayed on our football team and was deactivated for 14 weeks in a row and just kind of waited his turn patiently, got ready for the game each week and then when his number was called last year he did a good job.
“We felt highly enough about him to try to re-sign him and we got that accomplished. We knew what we had with Brandon, who is a special player. He has some unique abilities and talents and he certainly made the most of his opportunities early in the season.”
The Broncos insist Lloyd was equally impressive in practices last year.
“He just kept coming to work,” Gase said. “Just kept asking questions and going and going.”
That work ethic “certainly told me a lot about Brandon,” said McDaniels, who named Lloyd his scout team player of the week five times last year. “And usually those things are given mainly to younger players or rookies because that’s usually who’s running your scout team.”
What makes Lloyd so effective, Gase suggested, is his ability to make every route look the same, much like an ace in baseball who can disguise his pitches by repeating his delivery.
“He knows how to get open. He’s a veteran guy that’s savvy,” Gase said of Lloyd’s impeccable mix of athleticism and acumen. “Nothing really looks the same twice. He puts a little spin on it. You don’t really know what’s going on if you’re playing against him. He’s so smooth.”
Lloyd’s deep threat ability has opened things up underneath for slot receiver Eddie Royal, who has 25 catches for 299 yards and two TDs in his own resurgence a year after being largely ignored in Denver’s offense.
Jabar Gaffney has 22 grabs for 240 yards so far, and rookie Demaryius Thomas has 11 catches for 149 yards. Running back Correll Buckhalter and tight end Daniel Graham also have double-digit catch totals.
“It feels good, because that’s what we’ve been talking about since the spring,” Lloyd said. “As a group, this is how we felt we were going to be successful this year, and we were all going to contribute, and it’s good to see it materialize.”
