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Bill O'Brien met with the media today, and he says that the team has not yet decided to do with Ryan Mallett after the veteran quarterback, despite presumed access to calendars, alarm clocks, and traffic reports, missed the Texans' flight to Miami two days ago. From the transcript of O'Brien's presser:
(opening statement) "...As I talked about yesterday after the game, we’re dealing with Ryan Mallett and that situation internally, (Executive Vice President of Football Operations and General Manager) Rick Smith and I. So I won’t have any comments regarding that at this point."
(on what it means when he says he and Executive Vice President of Football Operations and General Manager Rick Smith are handling the QB Ryan Mallett situation) "We’re talking about."
(on what their options are in dealing with QB Ryan Mallett) "We’re talking about all those options."
(on still not having decided what to do with QB Ryan Mallett) "Right."
I choose to believe that this is smoke. I choose to believe that the decision to part ways with Ryan Mallett has already been made, and that the team is merely trying to confirm that there's no trade market for Mallett (because if a team like the Texans, with all of their well documented issues at quarterback, doesn't want to keep one of their own freaking quarterbacks, you know every other NFL team is just chomping at the bit to give up an asset for a chance to acquire a guy who plays a position of dire need the Texans have decided they don't want) while assessing what other options at quarterback are out there before formally cutting ties with the player. I choose to believe all of this because the idea that the Texans wouldn't cut Mallett after everything O'Brien has preached is so preposterous that I cannot fathom it.
Nevertheless, make sure to give that transcript a read, if for no other reason than to see how every prediction I made earlier this afternoon is sure to be wrong.
UPDATE: Well, here's a theory as to why Mallett hasn't been cut. Yowza.
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