On ESPN Mike Sando makes a great point about the New England Patriots' Brandon Lloyd signing Saturday afternoon: It came in, on an AAV basis, at less than half what some fans were surprised the St. Louis Rams were unwilling to pay to franchise Josh McDaniels's favorite wide receiver. The wide receiver market, at this late stage in NFL free agency's mad dash, is an odd combination, lacking both supply and demand—there's nobody left, and all the nobodies are coming very cheaply. With Mario Manningham gone to the 49ers (on another not-especially expensive two-year deal) the Rams are just about out of options on the free agent market.

But if there are any options, I guess they'll be a bargain.

All this failure to snag a receiver who'd fit on top of Danny Amendola on the depth chart suggests the Rams' earlier threat to consider trading for one should be taken more seriously than it was at the time. They've got a lot of draft picks, after all, and maybe trading some of them would be easier than using them.