NFL Trade Rumors: Don't Expect New England Patriots To Ship Chad Ochocinco Out

The New England Patriots aren’t giving up on Chad Ochocinco just yet.

With the 4:00 P.M. EST trade deadline only a few hours away, Ochocinco won’t be going anywhere.

There was speculation that Brandon Lloyd might be a candidate to replace Ochocinco, but after he landed with the Rams, the odds of a trade shrunk substantially. Then Tom Brady had these comments on WEEI radio in Boston on Monday:

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Look, he's working hard at it. We're all working hard at it. I'd say there's definitely a lot of improvement that we've made and that we're going to continue to make. I have a lot of trust and confidence in him. I don't lack for that at all.

"

He may be behind second-year receiver Taylor Price on the depth chart, but he isn’t going to get traded.

For no other reason, what team in their right mind would want to pick up over half of the remaining $4.5 million of his contract? So maybe secretly the Pats would love to ship him somewhere else, but the odds of it actually happening are slim to none.

The learning curve has been enormous for the 11-year veteran in his first year playing for a team other than the Cincinnati Bengals. The former Pro Bowler has a mere nine catches for 136 yards in the first six games of the season. Adjusting to the new playbook has proven to be incredibly difficult for the king of Twitter.

In Sunday’s 20-16 comeback win over the Dallas Cowboys, Ochocinco was on the field for a grand total of four snaps because the coaching staff and Brady are having a hard time trusting him.

The one time Tom Brady threw the ball in his direction, it appeared Ochocinco ran the wrong route. I assumed as much considering Brady was shown screaming at him on the sidelines after the play was over.

So while this has been a disastrous start to the season for Ochocinco, he won’t be getting traded today.