I missed the text in the excerpt, but anyway, the writer noted that there's plenty of supplies onboard -- IOW, when the two that arrived on the decaying hulk have to stay behind as the unmanned craft makes a robotic attempt to reenter and land (this one uses airbags to touch down on dry land) they won't tax the ISS resources.
It is beginning to look like the best possible use for Starliner is to carry a load of garbage down from the ISS. Garbage build up is a perennial problem and this will do double duty, simulating the weight of the crew.
If it burns up, well they still got rid of it.