FanPost

Aaron Hernandez

No, this is not a post about whether Buffalo should put in a waiver claim on Aaron Hernandez.

It is also not a post defending Hernandez particularly.

Hernandez, lest you not been keeping up with the biggest news in the NFL the past week or so, has been connected with a murder victim. There have been reports in the media that have stated that the murder victim was with Hernandez (and some others) around the time of his death and that the victim was found in the vicinity of a vehicle connected to Hernandez. Other reports have said that Hernandez destroyed the security system around his home and his cell phone. It all looks very bad. It looks bad enough that the police have arrested Hernandez for a crime yet to be specified; it could be for murder or it could be for obstructing justice by destroying what could be critical evidence.

The Patriots immediately cut Hernandez.

What happened to the presumption of innocence?

I'm a teacher and even my overly sensitive employer (not unique to my profession) would not fire me outright for getting arrested. Convicted? Sure, I'd be fired if I were convicted of murder or even far less serious things like solicitation of a prostitute or possibly even for getting a DUI. Until I were convicted, however, the district would put me on administrative leave and even pay me. I'm not crying for Hernandez losing out on the many millions of dollars he'd have earned in the coming years in New England; the many millions that he's already made are sufficient to see him through the rest of his life in luxury--assuming he doesn't spend the rest of it in prison for whatever it is he is accused of doing.

Hernandez looks guilty and is certainly guilty of at least stupidity. (It could be he destroyed the cameras and phone thinking he would get in trouble even if someone else committed the crime....even though it is more likely that he had some kind of direct involvement.) With that being said, I don't like seeing the cart placed before the horse in these kinds of cases.

In my view the NFL could have suspended Hernandez while the charges were resolved. That would have kept him out of the Patriots' training camp and possibly out of the league for the entire 2013 season. He does, after all, have slightly bigger things to deal with than seam routes...and will likely be legally entangled for at least a calendar year.

Again, this is not about defending Hernandez. If he's guilty of murder I hope he gets the maximum sentence. Even if he's guilty of helping others cover up a murder I hope they throw the book at him. I just didn't like the precipitous action taken by the team this morning.

And again, no, I don't think Buffalo should put in a waiver claim.

Just another great fan opinion shared on the pages of BuffaloRumblings.com.