I don't think people are stating the Pats knew more then they let on. You said it yourself "they took a risk." They knew he was a shitty human and that he had potential to be a problem, that is undeniable or the Pats are clueless internally. Did they think he was capable of murder? i highly doubt anyone within the Pats thought it would go that far until it actually did. The animosity or joy depending on your take on this is Kraft's "Patriot Way." When you champion yourself as "doing things the right way and classiest team in the league" with a holier then though attitude any misdeed from your organization going to be amplified that much more. I do need to thank you though, This post is one of the most level headed commentaries coming from a pats fan i have read on this subject. Maybe you aren't all as bat shit crazy as i thought.
Heard this on the radio this mornin: "he's done playing Tight end and thanks to prison he'll be done having one." Lmao
If this was a Jets player I wouldn't be finding excuses for them I'd be on the bandwagon criticizing them for their negligence and unwillingness to do an internal investigation of this guy. But I think they did know a lot because Kraft does his homework. The first mistake was drafting him since the entire NFL knew he had gang ties to the New England area. This was not the right team to draft him. It was the worst team to draft him. Except that Belichick probably thought he was again pulling a fast one on the league by getting a first round talent in the 4th round. Kraft said he asked Hernandez after the incident if he had any involvement in it and Aaron said 'No." What did he expect him to say: "Bob, the guy was gonna rat on me so me and my boys took care of him. You would have done the same thing." IMO Hernandez doesn't think he did anything wrong.
I don't think that Aaron is going to have any problems in that area. The inmates will probably respect him. Because he killed a bunch of people. And he's NFL. Plus he has gang ties in the New England area. And he can kick serious ass. They're not going to successfully fuck with him unless it's a gang vendetta thing. And that kind of mentality can get you either killed or in prison for life.
You think any of that matters to lifers and that is who most of his prison mates will be? Somebody might just kill him because of who he is and get some prison cred in the process.
Thanks for the honest and mutually level-headed take... I definitely hear what you're saying. As a 43-year-old Pats fan who was around for the worst of it, I personally hate the whole "Patriot Way" mantra. It's a football team in a scandalous league fraught with criminals, LOL... it's not exactly a bastion of class and righteousness. To some extent the media created that, but I'd agree that in some instances, Kraft and/or players have run with it. And if you embrace it, like you said, any misdeeds are amplified. Totally fair and reasonable. They gambled on Hernandez and got burned to the worst possible extent. It was obviously a mistake to draft him, and an even bigger mistake to extend his deal. I just think that taking that to the extreme and saying they knew this guy was a psychopath is a tough sell.
They didn't know he was going to kill anybody. But using the words "gambled" and "mistake" again takes your team off the hook. Before Kraft drafted him and then later signed him to that contract he had to know the kind of people he was associating with. You'd have to throw blame to Roger and the NFL office for not doing anything about this. But saying it was a mistake is again: it's a cop out term. Kraft and BB are too smart to make those kinds of mistakes.
How great is this? Kraft looked like a total dupe in his testimony and apparently it helped convict Hernandez. Kraft must feel like a total jackass for being deceived by Hernandez or maybe he feels like a jackass for being so guillible, but either way, he helped put his star TE away for life. So great. http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.co...timony-compelling-evidence-against-hernandez/ Jurors call Kraft’s testimony compelling evidence against Hernandez AP Aaron Hernandez’s claim of innocence to Robert Kraft helped jurors decide to convict Hernandez of first-degree murder today. After Hernandez, the former Patriots tight end, was found guilty today of murdering Odin Lloyd, jurors told reporters that the testimony of Kraft, the Patriots’ owner, was compelling. Kraft testified under oath that he spoke with Hernandez when reports first surfaced of Lloyd’s death, and that Hernandez had given Kraft an assurance that he was not involved. Hernandez claimed to Kraft that he had been inside a club at the time that Lloyd was killed, which sounds like a good alibi — except that it raised questions in the minds of jurors as to how, exactly, Hernandez could have known what time Lloyd was killed. “One part, for me, was Aaron’s alleged statement that . . . he was at a club at that time,” one juror said. “We still don’t know the exact time of Odin’s murder, specifically. So I don’t know how Aaron would have had that information two years ago. Even today, after medical examiners’ review, we still don’t have that information.” Jurors believe that Hernandez knew what time Lloyd was killed because Hernandez was the one who killed him. Hernandez proclaiming his innocence to Kraft helped the jurors reach that conclusion. _
It's not meant as a cop-out at all. They deserve criticism for making poor decisions with this guy, for trusting him. You don't throw a huge contract at a player if you think he's going to end up in jail. To whatever extent they "looked into" his life, it obviously wasn't enough. Maybe it was handled carelessly, I don't know. That said, I'm not sure what you mean by "off the hook." Setting aside for a moment the (far more important) fact that someone died, the Patriots gained nothing from any of this. Terrible moment in their team history. On the field, it took away a very good player who was one of the centerpieces of their offense. They're still carry cap penalties for releasing him. All in all, everyone lost. Again this stuff pales in comparison to what happened to the Lloyd family, so don't get me wrong. Also important to note, Kraft's testimony was noted by jurors as being key to their decision. Kraft said AH had told him he hoped the time of the murder would come out, because he was at a club when it happened. But, as the jurors noted, how would he know that? If Kraft and BB were protecting him in any way, it's ironic that his words on the witness stand had an impact that wasn't in AH's favor. (EDIT: JStokes posted above while I was writing this response... good timing, lol...) If AH was a construction worker or an accountant or a teacher, would anyone be laying accountability on his employer? I realize those other professions don't involve $40M contracts, but haven't you ever been "fooled" by someone who made you believe in them? I had a relative who supposedly quit drinking, then after four years "sober" she literally drank herself to death one night. The sobriety was a total scam and she fooled all of us. People who are accomplished liars can be extremely persuasive and convincing. Look I'll admit, there are good reasons for fans of other teams to hate the Patriots. I just don't think this is one of them.
So how come his defense attorneys at the last minute admitted that he was on the scene of the murder. Contradicting what he said to Kraft. According to the DA they had to because all of the evidence pointed to Hernandez being at the scene of the crime. So they after saying something different earlier finally admitted it. I'm not a lawyer but not sure this was the right strategy for their client. The only thing good about it you might say is that it took the jury 6 days to deliberate. So the jury had questions.
This has nothing to do with hating the Patriots. That's strictly on the field. But you're using terms like "mistake," "gambled" and "poor decisions" which to me takes any responsibility away from Kraft and Belichick. It just makes it look like an innocent error in judgment or incompetency. These are not traits of your team or ownership. They know exactly what they're doing. So to me the criticism has to be much harsher than what you're saying. They had direct knowledge imo that Hernandez was involved with people who had criminal past and presents and were up to no good. And were willing to let it go because he was a good player.
it was the "well we've fucked" defense plan. The equivalent of throwing up a hail mary with 1 second left. They were pretty much screwed but thought maybe showing they just proved he was there but not that he did it could give them a chance
I think that's a fair point, if Tom Brady was the one who killed Odin Lloyd I think the world would be in complete shock because despite being a smug asshole he doesn't quite have anything in his past that would make it seem like he was a really bad guy. I can't blame Kraft and Bellichick because there is just no way that they would the guy 40 million dollars if they had any idea he was going to murder 3 people. Honestly if you really want to go after somebody and look to fault someone how about Urban Meyer? This guy had 31 players arrested in his tenure at Florida and he allowed his players to get away almost anything possibly including attempted murder. Had he instilled some discipline when Hernandez was an 18-19 year old kid maybe he could have broken Hernandez from his checkered past in Bristol. I mean they wanted him to stay far away from New England during school breaks yet they allowed him to do whatever he wanted while he was in Gainesville.
I don't know man. If you applied the same to the entire league... I mean, how many players coming into the draft have had criminal issues in the past? How many of them run with the wrong crowd and have poor outside influences? There are countless examples of players who, once they reached the NFL, were able to clean up their lives and disassociate themselves with their pasts. Herndandez is more the exception than the rule. Most of them get away from the bullshit, gang-banger lifestyle. Hernandez didn't. Belichick is tight with Urban Meyer, right? So if they talked before that draft and Meyer said, "This dude is not right in the head and never will be," do you think he would have ended up in NE anyway? What's more likely is that they acknowledged that he had issues but had reason to believe he would straighten himself out. For two years he kept his nose clean. And again, the guy obviously is an accomplished liar. This time he went way too far and couldn't talk his way out of it.
He probably wishes it would happen. People will talk about him forever if it did. Sent from my LG-LS720 using Tapatalk
