Another day, another stroke of color to the seemingly never-ending story of Aaron Hernandez.
The Boston Globe on Wednesday published the fourth installment in its four-part series on the former New England Patriots tight end, who committed suicide in April 2017 while serving a life sentence for the 2013 murder of Odin Lloyd. The Globe’s series is full of revealing anecdotes on the many tragedies within the Hernandez saga, but for now, let’s focus on one pertaining to Patriots head coach Bill Belichick.
Shortly after Hernandez’s arrest in 2013, Belichick addressed his players and instructed them on how to handle the impending drama. And Belichick’s remarks probably won’t surprise you.
From The Globe’s Spotlight team:
Hernandez’s teammate Dane Fletcher was present when Belichick separately addressed the team. Fletcher quoted the head coach as saying the episode was “not going to be spoken of.’’
“He is not part of this team,’’ Fletcher recalled Belichick saying. “He will not be spoken about in this locker room.”
The coach said the team would instead focus on winning another championship.
Everyone handles things their own way, and that’s how Belichick deals with his business. The larger question, however, is could the Patriots head coach have done more to prevent Hernandez from spiraling out of control and harming others?
We may never know, but the spotlight team makes a compelling case nonetheless.
