Remembering the erratic and drug-fueled life of Aaron Hernandez

Aaron Hernandez was considered one of the top talents of his draft year but most teams didn’t give the 20-year-old tight end a second glance because of his terrible reputation. 

“Hernandez was widely regarded as a second-round talent,” wrote Chris Wesseling, “but many teams took him off their draft boards because of failed drug tests and rumors around his erratic behavior.

The rumors Wesseling was referring to were stories about Hernandez’s conduct on and off the field, both of which were apparently unbecoming of a future football star. 

Hernandez had faced a number of suspensions while playing college football at the University of Florida according to Sportkeeda’s Nick Igbowke.

“It was so bad that the school's coaching team told him he wouldn't be welcomed for his final year of college eligibility, so he better declare for the NFL draft,” Igbowke wrote.

Drugs were a constant issue for Hernandez, and in order to get drafted by the New England Patriots, he wrote Nick Caserio a personal letter promising to take drug tests. 

“I will willfully submit to a bi-weekly drug test throughout my rookie season,” Hernandez wrote according to a transcript of the letter published by The Boston Herald in 2013. 

Hernandez also wrote that he was willing to tie any portion of his rookie compensation to the drug tests in a bizarre attempt to get the Patriots to draft him. 

“I realize that this offer is somewhat unorthodox, but it is also the only way I could think of to let you know how serious I am about reaching my potential in the NFL,” he wrote. 

Funnily enough, Hernandez’s letter to Caserio is what convinced team owner Robert Kraft to take a chance on the talented Florida tight end and draft him in 2010 according to SB Nation. 

We don’t know whether or not Hernandez was actually tested during his rookie season by the Patriots, but we do know he took his bad attitude and drug habit with him to New England's Foxborough stadium.

“He had a bad habit of visiting the hood, spinning the block, and hanging out with the wrong crowd,” Nick Igbowke wrote of Hernandez. 

“There were fights, missed training sessions, and, most worryingly, the murder allegations,” Igbowke continued. 

Hernandez’s teammates disliked his antics and several spoke out about what it was like to play and train with their former teammate's attitude in the locker room. 

In a 2018 interview with Boston Globe, former New England receiver Brandon Lloyd explained how he was sat down by Wes Welker and warned about Hernandez.

“I just want to warn you that [Hernandez] is going to talk about being bathed by his mother,” Welker told Llyod according to Lloyd's account. 

“He’s going to have his genitalia out in front of you while you’re sitting on your stool… Just do your best to ignore it. Even walk away.”

“It was like he went from this child-like, laughing, disruptive behavior and he storms off in a fit of rage,” Lloyd added later in the interview when referring to Hernandez. 

Mood swings were a common theme with Hernandez and the Boston Globe noted that Hernandez had hired his college friend and drug dealer Alexander Bradley to help calm him down when he was hit by fits of anger or paranoia.

Prior childhood abuse and chronic traumatic encephalopathy diagnosed after his death were just two of the many alluded to by the Boston Globe that could have led to Hernandez's behavioral issues.

But in the end, we may never know just what made Aaron Hernandez the way he was… beyond the erratic behavior was a violent man who would later be convicted of murder and would pass away by his own hands in his prison cell. A sad ending for a troubled man whose talent could have made him an NFL legend.