
“Thoroughly enjoyed the oppurtunity to play for the ‘Patriot’ organization… fans were … wicked awesome, I wish all of you the best,” he tweeted at about the same time the team was announcing he had been released.
“I’m healthy n living life, I’ll be fine,” he wrote on Twitter, where he had changed his job description to “UNEMPLOYED BLACK GUY” and posed a photo of himself sitting on a suitcase at the airport, hitchhiking.
Ochocinco, 34, played in 15 games in his only season with the Patriots, starting three and catching 15 passes for 276 yards. He caught one pass in the Super Bowl as New England lost 21-17 to the New York Giants.
His agent, Drew Rosenhaus, said he is “in the process of gauging interest from potential teams.”
During the playoffs, Patriots coach Bill Belichick described Ochocinco as a hard worker who “made a very good effort to do everything we’ve asked him to do on and off the field.”
Ochocinco said the shift from star receiver to barely contributing role player was a struggle. But it paid off with his first trip to the Super Bowl — as a player, not as a gadfly asking questions on media day to those actually participating in the game.
Ochocinco also appeared as a contestant on “Dancing With the Stars” and hosted a cable dating show. Under the guise of the online Ochocinco News Network, he attended the Super Bowl as a reporter for two years, asking questions of the teams during media sessions and even grilling Goodell last year on the prospects of avoiding a lockout.
Comments are not available on this story. Read more about why we allow commenting on some stories and not on others.
We believe it's important to offer commenting on certain stories as a benefit to our readers. At its best, our comments sections can be a productive platform for readers to engage with our journalism, offer thoughts on coverage and issues, and drive conversation in a respectful, solutions-based way. It's a form of open discourse that can be useful to our community, public officials, journalists and others.
We do not enable comments on everything — exceptions include most crime stories, and coverage involving personal tragedy or sensitive issues that invite personal attacks instead of thoughtful discussion.
You can read more here about our commenting policy and terms of use. More information is also found on our FAQs.
Show less