Matt Light: Never "embraced" AH's beliefs

BadMoFo said:

I know a lot of people here try and discredit TMZ, but they've been as accurate as any other media outlet in it's reporting on the Hernandez murder case. This kind of makes sense.

Click to expand...

Patriot Missile said:

Funny, most fans were giddy after signing both TE's which would keep them here long term...

Click to expand...

PatsWickedPissah said:

We have 20-20 hindsight here but given Light's comments, etc. it does seem like massive fail on the Pats org, in particular not protecting themselves with a conduct based contract escape clause. I bet Kraft has had some heated words with BB over the loss of his million$, and far worse the permanent damage to the Patriots brand. Not good. Not good at all.

Click to expand...

ctpatsfan77 said:

OTOH, how differently does his life turn out if he did make that catch?

Click to expand...

captain stone said:

I know my life would've turned out differently. My soul would be less dark than it is now.

Click to expand...

Tunescribe said:

One of his college portraits:

Click to expand...

PatsWickedPissah said:

We have 20-20 hindsight here but given Light's comments, etc. it does seem like massive fail on the Pats org, in particular not protecting themselves with a conduct based contract escape clause. I bet Kraft has had some heated words with BB over the loss of his million$, and far worse the permanent damage to the Patriots brand. Not good. Not good at all.

Click to expand...

Steve:Section 102 said:

I would go so far to speculate that this will cost someone a job in foxboro. Who it is, I have no clue. It just seems to me that someone would have to take the fall for this deal.

Click to expand...

Bruins29 said:

I agree actually. Its really bad business, a waste of money but more importantly a huge black eye for the franchise. Granted they cut him immediately but this will linger and fans from other teams will dine on this for a while. Just like we do with the Ravens and Lewis.

This might be the biggest black eye for Boston sports ever. Although Craig MacTavish did kill an innocent woman drunk driving while on the Bruins.

Click to expand...

RhodyPatriot said:

Zolak made a great point today. None of us has read ANY testimonials from friends or relatives or former teammates, NOBODY has stepped forward to tell us what a good person AH is and how he just went off the rails. Nobody is stepping up to say this is a good guy gone bad.
Now we have one of the highly respected former teammates of AH saying how he could never embrace anything that AH stood for in his life.
What a damning comment from a team leader and a guy who was in that locker room every single day. Just amazing how Patriots management embraced Aaron Hernandez to the tune of $40 million when his own teammates would not embrace him.
BTW, this is not a second guess on my part. I was thrilled they signed AH when they did. What I'm amazed at is how the Hernandez personna (the attitude, the lifestyle, the gangsta friends) that we've found out about in recent days was known to the Patriots all along, how his teaammates were repelled by it and how it was/is so contrary to what the Patriots want on their team and in their locker room.

Click to expand...

RhodyPatriot said:

It Is What It Is » Matt Light: ‘Never believed in anything Aaron Hernandez stood for’

What is so troubling is how the Patriots ever decided to give this guy the $40 million contract they did.
He was a known BAD guy. Look at Matt Light's words.
Baffling!!!

Click to expand...

Steve:Section 102 said:

I would go so far to speculate that this will cost someone a job in foxboro. Who it is, I have no clue. It just seems to me that someone would have to take the fall for this deal.

Click to expand...

Bella*chick said:

Well, the Ravens glorified Lewis and continue to do so. That will not happen here. It will be as if AH never existed.

I think the unfortunate thing is that there were indeed many red flags on this guy when he was drafted. I mean you don't just tumble down from the first to the fourth because you smoked pot once or twice. Please. If his gang affiliations were known, and it appears they were, guns and killing is not exactly a great leap. So even if they didn't think he'd be a murderer, the chances of him being involved in something gun or shooting related were elevated.

Well, I'm sure the Patriots weren't the first FO to take a chance on a guy like this. It just backfired drastically on us. The thing is we aren't supposed to be like other FOs. We are supposed to be smarter. This definitely puts a tarnish on the brand. For however long, who knows. But as of now, yes, it does. How could it not? This idiot is alleged to be running out gunning people down while we forked over 40 million dollars to him. It makes me sick.

Click to expand...

PatsWickedPissah said:

It won't be BB.
That said, as a former VP I know that if one of my employees whom I should have vetted got a big position and huge corporate payout that was public because I went to the mat for it, and we were in the business of directly pleasing the public with our product, I'd likely be gone.

Click to expand...

BadMoFo said:

I know a lot of people here try and discredit TMZ, but they've been as accurate as any other media outlet in it's reporting on the Hernandez murder case. This kind of makes sense.

Click to expand...

DarrylS said:

Doubt that BB would have made this decision in a vacuum, pretty confident that his security staff and Mr. Kraft provided input..

Might think that they beef up the security/investigation aspect of that department before they extend anyone with questionable character..

Remember the stories about how before they drafted anyone they asked everyone in the college questions about the guy in who might be drafted???

Click to expand...

voluntarysaftey said:

That report could be completely correct; and maybe he was paranoid. Still doesn't make sense to go way out of your way to kill a friend who has nothing to do with his gang past

Click to expand...

BradyManny said:

"Oh, yeah, sure, I knew he was going to be a murderer."

- Pretty much everyone, after anyone does something terrible.

This hindsight stuff is annoying. If Hernandez' gang affiliations and criminal behavior was so obvious, the organization would've known about it, and we wouldn't have re-upped him.

Click to expand...

DarrylS said:

Aside from tattoos, there may not have been a lot of other signs, and his previous troubles could have appeared to have been in the past.. all of this stuff seems to have happened in a relatively short period of time..

I wonder if he was a "gang wanna be guy", which can sometimes be more dangerous than an actual gang member.. sure they will look at a few more unsolved homicides that he and his posse might be linked to.

His tattoos may tell a story, and usually gang experts in corrections can figure a lot of stuff out by studying them..

Click to expand...

captain stone said:

And if this season goes down the toilet, which is a possibility of undertermined distinction,
then sometime between drinks & bimbos, Kraft needs to decide if Bill should remain the one
& only decision-maker of his franchise or "brand."

Click to expand...