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Albert Haynesworth may not be the only new arrival in New England this week.

Bengals receiver Chad Ochocinco is dropping hints that he’ll be a Patriot. And he’s dropping the hints in a most unusual way.

James Shively (@JC_Shively) of Cincinnati has a Twitter page. Earlier today, he complained about persistent rumors and reports that Ochocinco will be cut.

Wrote Shively: “So much 4 @ochocinco getting cut by the #Bengals… Media dont know squat. Always tryin 2 stir drama up.”

Shively received a “direct message” from Ochocinco. Said Ochocinco: “Media knows nothing but I’m going to enjoy clam chowder.” (We’ve seen the screen shot of the message.)

For those of you who are still using far lamer social media like Facebook and MySpace, a “direct message” is a device for sending a message to only one follower. Ochocinco would have known about Shively’s comment because users can see at any time a list of all tweets in which their Twitter name (in this case, @ochocinco) is mentioned.

For example, Ochocinco doesn’t follow the PFT Twitter page, but he routinely reacts to tweets in which we mention him, often with a threat to “whoop [my] ass.”

We don’t put any more stock in this one than we do in the fact that, on Wednesday, someone with the Eagles listed “Rodgers-Cromartie” among the various players whose jersey could be ordered via the online store.

Then again, Rodgers-Cromartie is now an Eagle.