There have always been many sides to
Aaron Hernandez.
Some are literally on his body. "If it is up to me, it is up to me," reads one of the
Patriots tight end's many tattoos, this one located near his left forearm. "The difference between the impossible and possible lies in a person's determination," reads another.
There was the Hernandez who was a high school football star. The Hernandez who became the leader of a home that lost its dad. The young man who charmed a coach, Urban Meyer. Meyer and Hernandez would meet every morning at Meyer's house to read the Bible.
The death of his father when Hernandez was 16 led to the player becoming a lost soul. His mother told
USA Today in 2009: "It was a rough process, and I didn't know what to do for him. He would rebel. It was very, very hard, and he was very, very angry. He wasn't the same kid, the way he spoke to me. The shock of losing his dad, there was so much anger."
There are those who say privately that Hernandez is a smart, good man. There are others who will give a vastly different side.
What the Hernandez case demonstrates more than anything is the brutal job an NFL team has of predicting the future of not only the player but the human being. No amount of psychological testing or combine questioning can map all facets of a person.
NFL team personnel men interviewed for this story say they believe Hernandez is a troubled individual. One scout read from a small portion of his report on Hernandez written the year Hernandez declared for the draft: "Partly unstable ... there are anger issues, marijuana use ... edgy and very moody."
Part of the conclusion of the report, the scout said, read: "One of the bigger risk, rewards of the draft."
In fact, that is the common theme among many personnel men when asked about Hernandez.
None of this means Hernandez obstructed justice in a murder case or took part in a homicide. He is innocent until proven guilty.
Police are investigating the murder of Odin Lloyd, whose body was found near Hernandez's home. The Patriots tight end also faces a civil action from a man claiming Hernandez shot him in the face in Florida.
An NFL source says the league office is watching the situation closely but no decision from Roger Goodell on whether to suspend Hernandez is coming soon. The source also says the league's own investigative arm, NFL Security, is gathering its own facts on the case.
"We are continuing to monitor developments, and will address the matter at the appropriate time," an NFL spokesman said.
There is no straight line from what Hernandez is alleged to have done in college and his current circumstance. Like Hernandez overall, there are too many angles and curves to decipher; some are smooth and easy to navigate, others are bumpy.
Yet there is a concrete bottom line that cannot be ignored: Numerous teams avoided Hernandez in the draft fearing he was problematic and wasn't worth the risk.
"We stayed away," one team scout said, "because we hated the people he hung out with and how trouble always seemed to find this guy."
Scouts say they believe that Hernandez failed multiple drug tests while at Florida. Hernandez has publicly stated he failed only one. Yet Hernandez was suspended by Florida for one game for failing a drug test and NFL sources vehemently maintain a suspension for marijuana use would only happen if multiple tests were failed.
The failed test or tests are important and became a huge reason for Hernandez slipping into the fourth round in the 2010 draft, when he was by all accounts a first-round talent. The NFL views one failed test as youthful indiscretion but multiple ones as a lack of self-control.
Published reports state that while at Florida, Hernandez was questioned in connection with a shooting outside a popular nightclub. No charges were ever filed.
The
Boston Globe reports that it didn't take long for some of Hernandez's anger issues to show themselves once he arrived in the NFL. Days after being drafted, Hernandez was at Gillette Stadium, attempting to watch film but had difficulty managing the equipment. When no one responded to his pleas for assistance, he asked receiver
Wes Welker, who happened to be walking by. "Rookie, you figure it out," Welker joked.
It's the usual back and forth a rookie receives and most just eat it. Hernandez responded angrily. The
Globe reporter tweeted that Hernandez said,
"F--- you Wes. I'll f--- you up."
The work ethic to study film only days after getting drafted but the lack of self-control to handle a joking veteran ... there are those sides again.
And there are many of them.
at the Pats fans trying to convince themselves AH isn't going to do time and the cops have nothing.
Its like they forget there is a dead victim & they are hoping the AH crew beats the rap.
