A Case For the Patriots to Release Chad Ochocinco and Replace Him With Terrell Owens
At 8-3, the New England Patriots are one of the hottest teams in football right now heading into Week 13 as they look to keep pace with the Houston Texans, Baltimore Ravens, and Pittsburgh Steelers for a chance at earning a first-round bye in the playoffs. It should be no surprise that Tom Brady (3,627 passing yards with 28 touchdowns and 10 interceptions) appears to be on his way to a record-breaking season thanks to a strong group of wide receivers, but there’s one play they could obviously do without–Chad Ochocinco.
The Patriots surrendered two draft picks (fifth rounder in 2012 and sixth rounder in 2013) to acquire Ochocinco from the Cincinnati Bengals once the lockout ended, but the 11th-year wideout has been nothing but a disappointment so far this season–catching just 11 passes for 201 yards in 10 games. It’s understandable why Ochocinco isn’t displaying his usual numbers considering New England is loaded with weapons on offense like Wes Welker, Deion Branch, and Rob Gronkowski, but the fact that he’s yet to record a touchdown or even catch more than two passes in a game is nothing short of pathetic.
Here’s a player that was heavily criticized during the lockout because while most players were finding ways to devote all of their free time to football, Ochocinco decided to give other sports a shot instead. From his tryout with Sporting Kansas City to making $10,000 for riding a bull for 1.5 seconds, Ochocinco spent most of his free time away from football and it’s shown throughout the 2011 season.
New England was smart enough to re-structure Ochocinco’s previous deal when acquiring him from Cincinnati considering he was originally supposed to make $6.35 million in 2011–which obviously would have been a huge waste of money. At this point, it’s highly unlikely the Patriots would bring back Ochocinco next season and his disappointing numbers haven’t stopped the team from winning games–so why not just part ways with Ocho now and bring on a player that would be effective like Terrell Owens?
Despite all of the controversy brought to locker rooms with previous teams, there’s no questions Owens would be a huge upgrade over Ochocinco and would make the Patriots even more dangerous in the passing game. Even after having surgery last April to repair a torn ACL, Owens has held private workouts over the last couple of weeks to show his knee shouldn’t be a concern and he can still help teams in need of another wideout.
Obviously, the whole headcase in the locker room is going to be thrown out as an excuse, but last season with the Bengals (72 catches for 983 yards with nine touchdowns) is the perfect example that Owens can produce without being a distraction. Sure, he called out Cincinnati’s coaching staff at one point, but with the way Bob Bratkowski was running the offense–he had every reason in the world to.
He’s explosive. He can be a deep threat in the passing game. He has one of the best work ethics among players in the NFL. With all of this in mind, there’s no question Owens would be a major upgrade over Ochocinco at wideout and the Patriots should strongly consider making the move.
So what are your thoughts? Would it be wise for the Patriots to just part ways with Ochocinco now and consider bringing Owens on board as they prepare for the playoffs or should this team just keep things the way they are?
Dan Parzych is the Lead NFL Content Editor for www.RantSports.com/NFL, where he writes and edits NFL content for www.RantSports.com.
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Even if they could get all the different parties thru the contractual issues etc, there is not enough time this season to get owens into the patriots program. We should try to make it work with Chad.
Or as an alternative, Bring Randy Moss back out of retirement. I’m sure Brady would like to throw to Moss again this year.
If they didn’t think Ochocinco could help they wouldn’t keep him, so they must know more than you. I hope nobody signs t.o., he has burned bridge after bridge with his selfishness and ego. He should not be in the NFL.