I hear what you're saying Tony, but there were ways where Hernandez was also somewhat overrated too. He made his share of drops, mistakes, penalties, etc. He has also battled some injury problems too, and IF the defense's claim that he also has back problems is true we have no idea whether that would have bit us in the ass down the road. All in all, he's only started in 29/48 games here (or 60%). In his 3 yrs of playing here, 2 of them totaled production of 45 and 51 catches. Basically he had ONE good year. I'd much rather have kept him obviously, as his main trait was the ability to take advantage of mismatches by keeping the same personnel on the field, but that can be done with another TE just the same. Hernandez had a great potential, but was also overrated in some ways just the same. We weren't quite as "unstoppable" as you are claiming, judging by the past 3 yrs of playoff losses.
Having a player who obviously has some attitude issues, along with other significant psychological problems and doesn't interact well with other teammates may end up being better for us to get rid of once the obvious cap hit is dealt with. I think that is what some posters including myself are feeling. Don't get me wrong, I'd much rather have kept him--but hearing some of these things come up now and coupling it with the TRUTH of Hernandez's on-field production may very well lead someone to believe that the argument can be made that it's better to deal with the loss now and move on...
If your demons are that great that you have been in multiple instances with shootings and guns, and you don't interact well with others (Welker situation when he was a lowly rookie as example), then an argument can certainly be made that getting over the initial backslide may prove to be a better end result in the long run. Only time will tell, but I certainly understand the argument that some are making.
