On Wednesday Marvin Lewis told Mike and Mike In the Morning that Chad Ochocinco is under contract for the 2011 season and that there is, in fact, "no option" that's been widely reported to be in his contract. Most of either believed that Lewis was either shutting down any discussion on the matter before the team had talked about, or he genuinely didn't know about the option.

However, maybe it's because the Bengals have already picked up the option.

In his blog, Geoff Hobson speculates that perhaps the team already picked up, saying that there is a "school of thought out there that believes the Bengals already exercised the team option on The Ocho and he’s under contract for ’11."

Considering it's just in a blog posting, it shouldn't be viewed as fact and Hobson merely passing along information that he's hearing -- this is why he's one of the better NFL team writers in the league because the other sites just try to get you to buy their junk.

There could be a measure of support for the "school of thought." When Chad Ochocinco was interviewed by 2 Live Stews on Sporting News Radio, the wide receiver never responded to questions that suggested he was going to be on another team other than the Bengals. And when asked if he could co-exist with Bengals head coach Marvin Lewis, Chad was unsure, but never talked about leaving. When asked if Carson Palmer is still the right guy for the Bengals, Chad said, "I’ve been with Carson for eight years, going on nine."

Obviously our speculation wheels are hitting overdrive on the issue. But it would seem that the rhetoric we're hearing lately suggests that Chad Ochocinco had his option picked up -- Mike Brown wouldn't even tell us how long Lewis' contract was, you expect him to update us on this. As Geoff Hobson writes, by picking up Chad's option "the Bengals are going to make sure all their ducks are healthy, lined up, and ready to go if he’s not coming back." In other words, exercise the option, work a trade or, more likely, release him.

Therefore in the end, the option really doesn't matter but it does put a damper on those that either believe or want Georgia's A.J. Green.