Doubt the Patriots had quite THIS in mind when they were weighing whether to bring the AB circus back into town. I also saw a report that Ben Watson -- who has been in the league for longer than AB and, I think, has also always worn 84, isn't willing to give it up. God knows what AB's reaction to THAT might be.
The real risk to the Patriots here is that they keep him, develop an offense that is based around him in large part, and then lose him late in the year to suspension or whatever. If that happens, it would've been far better to have never had him at all.