Aaron Hernandez Blasted Coach Belichick for Not Supporting Him Enough
Peak Patriots may have been reached from beyond the grave thanks to disgraced tight end Aaron Hernandez.
Hernandez, who committed suicide in prison in 2017 after his conviction for the 2013 murder of Odin Lloyd, reportedly said New England coach Bill Belichick “didn’t support him” after he was arrested and convicted of murder.
What exactly Hernandez wanted after the Lloyd incident is unclear. When your life turns into a Queen lyric — “Mama, just killed a man” and all that — emotional support isn’t exactly the first thing you should expect from your football coach.
You should expect, “What on earth did you do that for, you can’t catch passes in prison.”
The new report on Hernandez and his relationship with Belichick is made possible through the release by the Bristol County sheriff in Massachusetts of over 900 phone conversations, according to The Boston Globe.
The Globe’s headline described Hernandez as “emotional, but hopeful” — again, for what exactly? — after he killed a guy, something the court would later establish as true beyond reasonable doubt, though the conviction was officially commuted after Hernandez’s suicide.
The calls are full of the fun nuggets of a deluded mind.
Since Hernandez would no longer be under contract after serving a sentence, he pictured a comeback to pro football and clearly didn’t consider the Patriots in those plans.
He told teammate Brandon Spikes, “Check this out: I get to pick what team I want to be on once I get out.’’
Hernandez’s mother, Terri, had a lot to process upon the sheriff releasing the phone calls and their coming to light, and her words show the continuing emotional damage her son’s story left behind.
“He changed drastically from the son I once knew. I couldn’t grasp or make sense of what was going on in his life and the anger he held and most of the time it was towards me,” she wrote in an e-mail. “I believe he had to blame someone for all his problems and it was me.”
As for Belichick, one of Hernandez’s former teammates summarized the taciturn coach’s ability to instantly silence discussion and instill that “on to the next game” mentality.
“He is not part of this team,” the teammate recalled Belichick saying at the time. “He will not be spoken about in this locker room.”
Similarly, the coach risked arrest himself in the wake of the Lloyd murder; he was subpoenaed to appear at Hernandez’s trial but refused to answer the summons and give testimony.
Belichick was not held in contempt or otherwise sanctioned by the law for his refusal.
The coach’s supposedly cold nature prompted Hernandez to lash out at Belichick in his conversation with Spikes.
“Bill Belichick is the No. 1 person who teaches his team, ‘Don’t listen to the media because most of the time they make up stories and they’re rarely true,'” he said. “I wish he practiced what he preached, especially coming to me, throwing me in the dust with the wind.”
Once again, Aaron, you were facing murder charges. Belichick is far from the only coach in football whose first reaction to the cops showing up is “he’s dead to me.” Ask the coach of any player who’s been arrested for domestic violence in the past three or four years, especially Andy Reid.
The “Patriot Way” is not for everyone. Stories litter the league of former New England players who think they’re running a cult rather than a football team up in Foxborough.
But expecting emotional support from Belichick after stepping out of line?
If you believe that, you’ve taken one too many knocks to the head.
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