Brandon Spikes had some memorable moments in a New England Patriots uniform, and he had a chance at more in 2015 when he re-joined the team after a one-year stint with the Buffalo Bills.
However, the reunion was cut short after he was arrested following a hit-and-run accident, which he later pled guilty to. One year later, he’s getting that second chance again, this time with the Bills. But before he set his eyes on the future, he was very reflective in a recent interview with NewYorkUpState.com’s Matthew Fairburn, including about his relationship with former Patriot and University of Florida teammate Aaron Hernandez.
“I don’t even know if I should talk about it,” Spikes told Fairburn. “But the latest situation with a good friend of mine. I don’t like talking about it, but hey, this is a friend of mine. I’m not going to turn my back on Aaron Hernandez. I see his situation. You know, we use to talk about this all the time. Like, ‘Hey, change your life, you’ve got the wrong people around you.’ I know that because of my older brother. I watched him keep these people around. Look where it got him. It’s like, ‘Don’t be that guy.'”
Spikes’ older brother, Breyon Middlebrooks, was sentenced to life in prison in 2003 after being found guilty of murder. Hernandez is serving a life sentence for the murder of Odin Lloyd.
“I can’t really feel sorry for you, because you knew!” Spikes added. “How else can it end? You can change them? Nah, I mean, they don’t have anything to lose. You have everything to lose. I just think about that. We still talk and he’s in a good place mentally. That was necessary for him. Whatever it may be, even though it’s a bad situation. Some people might look at that as a bad situation. But you never know. He’s alive, but it was necessary.
“It’s like my brother. He’s behind bars, that was part of his cause. You can’t change that. They know. They know how to live right and do the right thing.”
Thumbnail photo via Kevin Hoffman/USA TODAY Sports Images
