Tight End Aaron
Hernandez’s arrest on the charge of first degree murder has sent major ripples through
the NFL. On the one hand, the Commissioner’s office will need to make a
decision on how to punish Hernandez, which regardless of his guilt or innocence
in this matter is going to happen. On the other, the Patriots have to deal with
the loss of their one, relatively reliable receiver and the ramifications his
cutting him.
I’ve never been
a fan of Roger Goodell and I will continue to not be a fan of his heavy-handed,
openly bias management of the Commissioner’s office. That being said, he is
probably the perfect man to handle this situation. The severity of the charges
cannot be understated and if Hernandez is found innocent and cleared of all
charges, it would still be difficult for him to find a place on an NFL roster.
As it stands, the NFL should take a similar tact to Michael Vick. Suspend
Hernandez indefinitely, pending the outcome of the legal proceedings. If he is
found guilty of the most serious crime, first degree murder, then there’s
almost no point to lifting the suspension, as he’ll likely spend the rest of
his playing days in prison.
Should he be found not guilty of
that charge, the far trickier problem of punishing him comes into play. There
are still five other gun-related charges against him. My opinion is, should he
be found not guilty of all of these in addition to the murder charge, the
suspension should be extended to at least the next full season, following the
end of the legal proceedings. I admit I don’t know the full extent of those
charges nor what their severity his, but I definitely think that whether or not
he is found guilty of those charges should play a role in determining how much
time he misses, should he be found not guilty of the murder charge.
The other part of this is the
Patriots and how they move forward. To begin with, they’ve lost arguably their
most reliable receiving weapon. While Rob Gronkowski is the best receiver on their
team, his injury problems made Hernandez the more reliable option. With
Hernandez gone, the Patriots are relying more than ever on Gronkowski to be the
main receiving option. While Danney Amendola, Donald Jones or second-round pick
Aaron Dobson could become big time receiving threats and pick up the slack left
by the departure of Hernandez, the Patriots have to be looking hard at the
remaining free agent receivers and tight ends.
The other major part that the
Patriots end of this mess is the salary cap situation. Last August, the
Patriots signed Hernandez to a 7-year 39.5 million dollars contract. With his
release earlier today, they only have two years of that contract to worry
about, this year and next year. This year, there isn’t too much to worry about.
The dead money the Patriots have to deal with this season is only 4 million (to
the best of my knowledge). While that’s not a small sum, the Patriots have
taken care of their free agent and draft signings for the most part. However
next year is when things are going to get stickier. Dead money from Hernandez’s
contract jumps to 8.6 million, in the 2014 league year, which could seriously
hamper their ability to re-sign players like Brandon Spikes, Aqib Talib and Rob
Ninkovich. While the Patriots are the Patriots and can find ways to move on, an
8 million dollar hole in their salary cap is not going to help.
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