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The Ochocinco Drama
A crazy day on Twitter from Patriots OTA’s.
Storified by · Thu, Jun 07 2012 16:04:18
If you missed it, Chad Ochocinco was not at Patriots OTA practice today.
No Hernandez and Ocho at practice. TE Brad Herman carted off w/ left ankle/foot injury in warmupsMike Rodak
The story was advanced slightly when it was reported that the receiver was at Gillette, but not practicing.
Source: Ocho was at Gillette facility today but not part of OTA session.Christopher Price
This tweet from the Patriots Football Weekly team is admittedly odd. Content from @patriotsdotcom is definitely not the same as tweets from @Patriots. But someone might get the impression that a tweet coming from the website of the Patriots might be hinting at something or know something that other reporters haven’t learned yet. This comes into play later.
Do you think that Chad Ochocinco will still be a member of the #Patriots at the end of the day? #PFW | http://bit.ly/j7tfOtPatriots.com
Some more information started to leak out:
was told recently that physically Ocho still has it – but still struggling to grasp Pats playbookshalise manza young
Source: Ocho leaves Gillette b4 Thursday’s OTA session, alters Twitter bio to remove Pats’ info #weei #NFL #Patriots http://bit.ly/KeWQ76Christopher Price
Source tells colleague Karen Guregian that Chad Ochocinco arrived at Gillette Stadium today and left 10-15 minutes later.Jeff Howe
FWIW, Ocho’s Twitter bio now has him as WR of the New England Patriots once again.Christopher Price
Source: Chad Ochocinco "is on the Patriots" http://bit.ly/KeZ1YfJeff Howe
I saw all this hubbub over @ochocinco taking "Patriots" off his Twitter bio … So I went to his Twitter page, and "Patriots" was back up.Albert Breer
So Ocho is officially still with the team?
However, I don’t think this @ochocinco story is over yet. Stay tuned.Greg A. Bedard
ProFootballTalk feels that this situation is worthy of a post, and in their original ports (since edited) they actually said that “multiple account” said that Ochocinco had been cut.
Chad Ochocinco hasn’t been cut by the Patriots, yet http://bit.ly/KAM4YEProFootballTalk
This led to questioning:
@ProFootballTalk Which accounts reported that he was cut? There weren’t any.Andy Hart
Andy Hart, of course, works for Patriots.com.
@ProFootballTalk Never saw a single account that said Ocho had been cut. Where are those?Christopher Price
@capeleaguer . . . http://Patriots.com openly speculating about it based on his absence from practice.ProFootballTalk
@AO250 I think Ocho has an uphill battle here. And there might be more to this 1. But the Twitter detectives need to calm down a little.Albert Breer
@ProFootballTalk @capeleaguer No actually we were wondering why he wasn’t at practice. Never said he was cut. Terry Bradshaw still dead?Andy Hart
Hart clarifies what the original Patriots.com tweet meant. However, I think there’s a difference between asking “How come Ochocinco wasn’t at practice?” and “Do you think Ochocinco will still be a member of the Patriots at the end of the day?” Don’t you? Especially when the question is being asked by the official website and newspaper of the Patriots?
Adam Schefter provides another explanation.
Chad Ochocinco left Patriots complex before today’s OTA…to attend an eye doctor appointment. Contrary to speculation, he was not released.Adam Schefter
Hart is still steamed at PFT.
Haven’t heard back from Florio in regard to his irresponsible report. Not surprised. MT @sleyland: @ProFootballTalk Awful reporting on Ocho.Andy Hart
Then Schefter, cleans up and scoops everyone. As usual.
After unsuccessfully trying to trade WR Chad Ochocinco throughout the day Thursday, the Patriots are releasing him, per league source.Adam Schefter
Can confirm that the Patriots are releasing Chad Ochocinco …Albert Breer
… But I stick by what I said about the Twitter Detectives.Albert Breer
So in the end, you have to wonder even more about the original Patriots.com tweet. Did they know that the team was trying to trade Ochocinco? Is that why they asked if he would still be on the team at the end of the day?
And did Bedard know something? This seemed like one of those “where there’s smoke, there’s fire” situations.
Boston Sports Media Watch 
Bruce,
“Stop trying to be a Twitter detective!”
Actually, it’s amazing how well you can piece together stories and a timeline if you’re good at this stuff.
You did this above. A+
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This kind of reminds me of a who’s-dating-who conversation from high school…..
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Hey Bruce. I’m sure you don’t want to brag (any more than I do – which is a little, I admit), but we voiced concerns about Ochocinco’s ability to pick up the offense on Patriots Daily way back in the 2011 preseason: http://www.patriotsdaily.com/2011/08/pats-pregame-points-preseason-final-vs-giants/
Too bad, but this is a better situation for all parties: Ochocinco gets to play somewhere and the Patriots no longer have to hold anyone’s hand.
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Chris,
Do you think he was given more latitude because of who he was and veteran status? He was classy with the tweets and I think we all expected this at some point.
“Everything But The Kitchen ’Cinco: Okay, sure, receiver Chad Ochocinco has a lot to learn in New England’s notoriously difficult offense. But is that an excuse for his dropped pass last Saturday?”
Remember the drop, vividly, Week 2/3? at BUF. At that point, I recall with some of the media commentary, it seemed like we just kept him on for depth.
Even with the “big catch” (try blown coverage as everyone pointed out) W12/W13 at DEN (remember how big that game was with Tebowmania?), it was still like…
I think at that point, our “TE Party” was starting to really captivate the league, so it wasn’t a big deal.
As stated, low risk, high reward. I can’t see why it was a big deal because of this.
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BSMFan, as far as Ocho’s status, I’d never seen Tom Brady and the coaches devote so much time to one player. After almost every rep, it seemed that TB and Ocho (and often the a coach or two) would huddle up and discuss what had happened. Never a good sign.
It was low risk, but with perfect hindsight, if a fraction of that time had been devoted to Brandon Tate (or even Taylor Price), maybe the Pats have a more productive, young WR on the roster. Speculation, but not hard to fathom.
It’s a shame because I like the guy, personally. I think a productive Ochocinco in NE would have been entertaining. I wish him well, but am relieved to see the O focus elsewhere.
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And, on the Patriots news,
Rob Gronkowski’s 6-year, $54 million deal makes him the highest paud tight end in NFL history.
Just broke 10 minutes ago.
Wow.
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