Brandon Matthew Lloyd (born July 5, 1981) is a former

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team wi ...

wide receiver in the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...

(NFL). He played college football for the

University of Illinois The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (U of I, Illinois, University of Illinois, or UIUC) is a public land-grant research university in Illinois in the twin cities of Champaign and Urbana. It is the flagship institution of the Univer ...

, and was drafted by the

San Francisco 49ers The San Francisco 49ers (also written as the San Francisco Forty-Niners) are a professional American football team based in the San Francisco Bay Area. The 49ers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the league's National ...

in the fourth round, 124th overall of the

2003 NFL Draft The 2003 NFL draft was the procedure by which National Football League (NFL) teams selected amateur college football players. The draft is known officially as the "NFL Annual Player Selection Meeting" and has been conducted annually since 1936. T ...

. Lloyd also played for the

Washington Redskins The Washington Commanders are a professional American football team based in the Washington metropolitan area. The Commanders compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) N ...

, Chicago Bears,

Denver Broncos The Denver Broncos are a professional American football franchise based in Denver. The Broncos compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) West division. The team is headquar ...

St. Louis Rams The St. Louis Rams were a professional American football team of the National Football League (NFL). They played in St. Louis from 1995 to the 2015 season, before moving back to Los Angeles, where the team had played from 1946 to 1994. The arr ...

and New England Patriots.

College career

Lloyd attended the

, and played for the

Illinois Fighting Illini football The Illinois Fighting Illini football program represents the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign in college football at the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (formerly Division I-A) level. The Fighting Illini are a founding member of ...

team beginning in 1999. After a promising freshman season, Lloyd missed all of the 2000 season with a broken femur. He returned healthily and had outstanding seasons in both 2001 and 2002. He was a consensus first-team All-

Big Ten The Big Ten Conference (stylized B1G, formerly the Western Conference and the Big Nine Conference) is the oldest Division I collegiate athletic conference in the United States. Founded as the Intercollegiate Conference of Faculty Representati ...

performer after his sophomore season in 2001, helping lead the Fighting Illini to a 10-2 record and a BCS berth in the

2002 Sugar Bowl The 2002 Sugar Bowl, a 2001–02 BCS game, was played on January 1, 2002. This 68th edition to the Sugar Bowl featured the Illinois Fighting Illini, and the LSU Tigers. Illinois came into the game 10–1, and ranked 8th in the BCS, whereas ...

. After his junior season in 2002, Lloyd declared his eligibility for the

NFL Draft The National Football League Draft, also called the NFL Draft or (officially) the Player Selection Meeting, is an annual event which serves as the league's most common source of player recruitment. Each team is given a position in the drafting o ...

. Of the seven children in the Lloyd family, he was the only one who started a career without finishing college. According to Brandon, "I saw y momcry was when I told her I wasn't going back to school. She just thought that was the end of everything." Lloyd finished his college career having the second-most receiving yards (2,835) and

touchdown A touchdown (abbreviated as TD) is a scoring play in gridiron football. Whether running, passing, returning a kickoff or punt, or recovering a turnover, a team scores a touchdown by advancing the ball into the opponent's end zone. In Amer ...

catches (31) in Illinois history, and ranking third in all-time receptions (160).

Professional career

San Francisco 49ers

Lloyd was drafted in the fourth round of the

with the 124th overall pick by the

. In his first game, he blocked a punt against the Chicago Bears on September 7, 2003. On November 2, 2003, he caught his first touchdown pass against the

. He finished the season with 14 receptions for 212 yards and 2 touchdowns. In 2004, Lloyd started and appeared in 13 games and finished the season with 43 catches for 565 yards and 6 touchdowns. During the 2005 season, Lloyd started 15 games and had 48 receptions 733 yards receiving and had 5 touchdown catches. In Week 3 vs. the

Dallas Cowboys The Dallas Cowboys are a professional American football team based in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. The Cowboys compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East divi ...

, he recorded four catches for 142 yards and two touchdowns, including an 89-yard touchdown catch.

Washington Redskins

On Saturday March 11, 2006, the

traded Lloyd to

in exchange for a third-round draft pick in the

2006 NFL Draft The 2006 National Football League Draft, the 71st in league history, took place in New York City, New York, at Radio City Music Hall on April 29 and April 30, 2006. For the 27th consecutive year, the draft was telecast on ESPN and ESPN2, with add ...

and a fourth-round pick in the 2007 NFL Draft. His first season in Washington is widely considered a failure, as he caught 23 passes for no touchdowns. According to

Howard Bryant Howard "Howie" Bryant (born November 25, 1968) is a sports journalist, and radio and television personality. He writes weekly columns for ESPN.com and ''ESPN The Magazine'', ESPN, and appears regularly on ESPN Radio. He is a frequent panelist o ...

of the ''Washington Post'', citing NFL.com, "Lloyd suffered through the worst season for a starting receiver in the Super Bowl era... No starting No. 2 wide receivers in the NFL started more games (12) while producing less (23 catches, 365 yards)." Lloyd never made it out of

Joe Gibbs Joe Jackson Gibbs (born November 25, 1940) is an American auto racing team owner and former professional football coach. In football, he was head coach for the Washington Redskins of the National Football League (NFL) from 1981 to 1992, and ...

' doghouse, due to a questionable attitude and alleged poor work ethic. Later, Lloyd admitted as much, that he was in fact disrespectful to the Hall of Fame head coach. On Sunday, November 4, 2007, Lloyd was listed among Redskins inactive as the team travelled to play against the New York Jets. Citing the reason behind the move, Gibbs said that Lloyd had been told to remain behind in Washington as disciplinary action for missing important team meetings. Lloyd would spend the latter part of the 2007 season on injured reserve after having snapped his collar bone while making a diving touchdown catch during team practice. On February 26, 2008, the Redskins released Lloyd.

Chicago Bears

On March 7, 2008, Lloyd signed a one-year deal with the Chicago Bears after the release of

Muhsin Muhammad Muhsin Muhammad II (; born Melvin Darnell Campbell Jr. May 5, 1973) is a former American football wide receiver who played for the Carolina Panthers and Chicago Bears of the National Football League (NFL). Muhammad played college football for ...

and the loss of

Bernard Berrian Bernard Berrian (born December 27, 1980) is a former American football wide receiver. He was drafted by the Chicago Bears in the third round of the 2004 NFL Draft. He played college football at Fresno State. Berrian also played for the Minnes ...

free agency In professional sports, a free agent is a player who is eligible to sign with other clubs or franchises; i.e., not under contract to any specific team. The term is also used in reference to a player who is under contract at present but who is ...

. The move reunited him with Bears offensive coordinator Ron Turner, who was Lloyd's head coach at the University of Illinois. Lloyd had a successful start to his career in Chicago, establishing himself as a favourite target of quarterback

Kyle Orton Kyle Raymond Orton (born November 14, 1982) is a former American football quarterback. He played college football for Purdue, where he started four straight bowl games. He was drafted by the Chicago Bears in the fourth round of the 2005 NFL Dr ...

, with 15 catches in his first four games. An injury forced him to miss several weeks, and he fell out of favour with the coaching staff as a result. He returned to the field in week 11, though did not approach his early-season productivity until the Bears' final game of the season, where he caught 4 passes from Orton for 64 yards.

Denver Broncos

Lloyd's contract with the Chicago Bears expired after the end of the 2008 season. In early April, Bears quarterback Kyle Orton was traded to the

in a deal involving

Jay Cutler Jay Christopher Cutler (born April 29, 1983) is an American former professional football player who was a quarterback in the National Football League (NFL) for 12 seasons, primarily with the Chicago Bears. He played college football for the Van ...

. As the offseason progressed, the Bears did not make any efforts to re-sign Lloyd. Lloyd signed with the

on June 15, 2009. Lloyd re-signed with the Broncos on March 15, 2010. During the Broncos' 24-20 loss to the Jets on October 17, Lloyd was subjected to a helmet-to-helmet tackle/hit by New York safety

Jim Leonhard James Andrew Leonhard (born October 27, 1982) is an American football coach and former player. He was most recently the interim head coach for the Wisconsin Badgers football team. Leonhard played college football at Wisconsin and professionally ...

, resulting in a 15-yard penalty. This hit, along with several other helmet-to-helmet hits during NFL games that weekend, led the league to announce such future 'devastating hits' or 'head shots' will be met with possible suspensions even for first-time offenders, a significant change in league policy, especially during an ongoing season. He led the NFL in receiving yards with 1,448 yards for the 2010 season. and was named 2nd Team All-Pro and was invited to the

2011 Pro Bowl The 2011 Pro Bowl was the National Football League's all-star game for the 2010 season. It took place at 7:00 p.m. EST (2:00 p.m. local time) on Sunday, January 30, 2011 at Aloha Stadium in Honolulu, Hawaii. The NFC won 55–41, despi ...

St. Louis Rams

On October 17, 2011, Lloyd was traded to the

. He would finish the season with a total of 70 catches, 51 with the Rams. The Rams gave up a conditional sixth-round pick that was upgraded to a fifth-round pick because Lloyd ended up having 30 receptions.

New England Patriots

On March 17, 2012, Lloyd signed a three-year deal with the New England Patriots for $20 million, with incentives that could escalate it to $26.5 million. This deal reunited Lloyd with

Josh McDaniels Joshua Thomas McDaniels (born April 22, 1976) is an American football head coach for the Las Vegas Raiders of the National Football League (NFL). He began his NFL career in 2001 with the New England Patriots, where he served as the offensive coo ...

, his coach in Denver and Offensive Coordinator with the Rams. In Week 4, he scored his first touchdown as a Patriot in arguably the most famous catch of his career. In Week 8, he faced the St. Louis Rams, his former team, in

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

. He finished the game with 2 receptions, both for touchdowns. He finished the season with 74 catches for 911 yards and 4 touchdowns. He was released by the Patriots on March 16, 2013.

San Francisco 49ers (second stint)

After taking a year off from football, Lloyd signed a one-year deal with the

on April 15, 2014. In the 2014 season, he would record 14 receptions for 294 yards and one touchdown.

Retirement

On October 22, 2015, Lloyd announced his retirement from professional football.

NFL career statistics

Music career

In addition to his football career, Lloyd has recorded music and attempted to launch a career as a

rapper Rapping (also rhyming, spitting, emceeing or MCing) is a musical form of vocal delivery that incorporates "rhyme, rhythmic speech, and street vernacular". It is performed or chanted, usually over a backing beat or musical accompaniment. The ...

. In 2008 his single "She All Mine" made the Billboard R&B chart, and his song "Heavy" was featured on the Spike TV show '' Blue Mountain State''. His single "Take It To The Hoop" is featured on NBA Ballers 2. Lloyd has received criticism for trying to balance careers in football and rap, but he says that making music is important to expressing who he really is. Quoted in a 2011 article, Lloyd said, "I have the guts to stand out and do something I'm passionate about, go against the grain and go against the conventional wisdom that the athlete-rap thing is unsuccessful. Yet I'm going to do it. People will say: 'Oh, you're doing hip-hop music? Who does he think he is, a rapper? He's trying to be someone he's not.' When in reality, I'd be someone I'm not by not expressing myself in music."

Acting career

Lloyd appeared in the direct-to-DVD film ''After Effect'', alongside

Daniel Baldwin Daniel Leroy Baldwin (born October 5, 1960) is an American actor. He is the second oldest of the four Baldwin brothers, all of whom are actors. Baldwin played the role of Detective Beau Felton in the NBC TV series '' Homicide: Life on the Str ...

. Lloyd had one speaking line, and less than a minute of screen time. The film was available online starting October 28, 2013.

References

External links

Illinois Fighting Illini bioSan Francisco 49ers bioDenver Broncos bioSt. Louis Rams bioNew England Patriots bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lloyd, Brandon 1981 births Living people Players of American football from Kansas City, Missouri American football wide receivers Illinois Fighting Illini football players San Francisco 49ers players Washington Redskins players Chicago Bears players Denver Broncos players St. Louis Rams players New England Patriots players American Conference Pro Bowl players