Patriots Belichick was accussed that knew Hernandez was mentally unstable: but Murder?
Restored from the Empower Network archive (2011–2017), lightly edited to meet our current advertising standards. Views are the original author’s.
Aaron Hernandez in court
Bill Belichick and the Patriots are under renewed heat over the Aaron Hernandez murder case in the wake of accusations lobbed in a bombshell report this week by Rolling Stone magazine.
Citing sources, the magazine claims the New England coach knew that Hernandez was mentally unstable and even suggested the tight end “rent a safe house” in the months leading up to Hernandez’s alleged June 17 murder of Odin Lloyd that has rocked the entire NFL.
That alleged suggestion came during what the story said was a clandestine trip by Hernandez to this year’s NFL scouting combine in Indianapolis in February in which the player told Belichick he felt his life was in danger.
The lengthy story also claims Belichick threatened to cut Hernandez “after the 2013 season” if the player — who the magazine alleges had recently become a heavy PCP user — didn’t stop causing distractions.
Neither Belichick nor the Patriots have commented on the story, which was released Wednesday, but team president Jonathan Kraft (son of owner Robert Kraft) said he planned to address it on the club’s pregame radio show before tonight’s exhibition finale with the Giants.
In his only comments on the subject, Belichick said last month that he felt the same way as the team’s owner.
“I agree 100 percent with the comments that Robert has already made on the situation,” Belichick said. “I stand behind those as well.”
But if it is true that Belichick knew long before Lloyd’s murder that Hernandez was acting paranoid and actually suggested he rent a safe house, it would be yet another black eye for an organization and coach known as much for the Spygate cheating scandal as for the Patriots’ three Super Bowl titles under him.
The magazine described Kraft’s duped claim as “arrant nonsense,” saying that Hernandez’s troubles were well known within the organization.
“Every team knew him as a badly damaged kid with a circle of dangerous friends and a substance problem,” authors Paul Solotaroff and Ron Borges wrote. “Once a Patriot, Hernandez practically ran up a banner that said STOP ME! I’M OUT OF CONTROL!”
The story also raises questions about the effectiveness of the league’s testing forstreet drugs, considering Rolling Stone alleges Hernandez was using the hallucinogen PCP on a daily basis since the spring of 2012 and smoking marijuana constantly.
Players who haven’t been put in the NFL’s drug program are tested for street drugs just once per year between April and August, although the tests are given without any prior notice to the player.
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