It seemed odd that the New England Patriots would offer a contract to Rolando McClain while the Aaron Hernandez trial was ongoing.
The Patriots reportedly put a one-year, $4 million deal on the table for the free-agent linebacker two weeks ago, but he elected to re-sign with the Dallas Cowboys instead. This is the same Rolando McClain who has been arrested three times during his NFL career. The same McClain who was quoted by ESPN The Magazine as saying, “I was feeling like Aaron Hernandez or something. Like I just wanted to kill somebody.”
He mentioned Hernandez by name.
If anything, the Patriots’ reported offer to McClain cements the fact they have moved on and past Hernandez and any possible repercussions he brought to their drafting or free-agent strategy. Any player — barring one with a history of domestic violence or sexual assault allegations — is on the table for New England.
This might seem like a devil-may-care attitude, but it’s the right one. Generally — loosely speaking — players with character issues don’t become convicted murderers. Hernandez did, and the Patriots clearly should have done even more digging on the tight end. The primary concern revolving Hernandez was his marijuana use, which, as we found out from his trial, continued throughout his career without punishment.
Hernandez might have been involved in a shooting during his freshman year at Florida, but hard facts in that case are still difficult to pin down. The Patriots were tasked to find out if Hernandez was at fault or if he was just hanging around the wrong people, which, as it turns out, was pretty easy to do in Gainesville, Fla., during Urban Meyer’s coaching tenure with the University of Florida.
There’s no doubt the Patriots have been more diligent in researching prospects’ pasts since Hernandez was arrested in 2013, as evidenced by their 2014 NFL draft class, which was filled with choir boys. But their Super Bowl XLIX hero shows the value in taking a risk on a player with spotty character. Cornerback Malcolm Butler went undrafted for a host of reasons, though it didn’t help that he was kicked out of community college and was arrested for drug paraphernalia possession. The Patriots also took a risk on wide receiver Brian Tyms, who had character issues early in his career with the San Francisco 49ers.
Butler and Tyms are proof that players with arrests or character issues deserve a second chance. Obviously, not all players with issues coming out of college pan out. Cleveland Browns wide receiver Josh Gordon and San Francisco 49ers pass rusher Aldon Smith are proof of that, but it’s completely unfair to compare any prospect with any history of arrests or violence to Hernandez, who is a complete anomaly.
NFL teams shouldn’t be destroyed for drafting players with question marks coming out of college, such as Oklahoma wide receiver Dorial Green-Beckham, Washington cornerback Marcus Peters, Florida State cornerback P.J. Williams or Nebraska edge rusher Randy Gregory. Whether they pan out is another story, but calculated risks are part of football. Convicted murderers, typically, are not.
Thumbnail photo via Ed Mulholland/USA TODAY Sports Images
