The image of Aaron Hernandez is frozen in a specific kind of 2010s amber. He’s usually wearing that navy blue New England Patriots jersey, leaning into a touchdown celebration, or he’s in a suit, stone-faced, sitting behind a mahogany defense table. It’s a jarring contrast. One minute he’s the $40 million tight end catching passes from Tom Brady, and the next, he’s a convicted murderer.
When Ryan Murphy decided to tackle this for the first season of American Sports Story: Aaron Hernandez, a lot of people rolled their eyes. Do we really need another look at this? Honestly, maybe. While the documentaries gave us the timeline, the dramatization tries to get inside the "why." It digs into the stuff that doesn't always make it into a police report—the childhood trauma, the hidden identity, and a brain that was literally rotting while he was still playing on Sundays.
The Dual Life of Number 81
Aaron wasn’t just a "bad seed." That’s too simple. You’ve got to look at Bristol, Connecticut. His dad, Dennis "The King" Hernandez, was a local legend but also a man who reportedly ruled his house with his fists. Aaron idolized him and feared him. When Dennis died unexpectedly during Aaron’s high school years, the wheels didn't just come off—they flew into the woods.
At the University of Florida, he was a superstar. But he was also a kid who was allegedly smoking constant amounts of marijuana and getting into bar fights. The show depicts his relationship with Tim Tebow, played by Patrick Schwarzenegger, as this weird tug-of-war between "saving" Aaron and Aaron just trying to survive his own impulses.
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- The Draft Slide: He was a first-round talent who fell to the fourth round because of "character concerns."
- The Patriots Era: Bill Belichick and the "Patriot Way" were supposed to fix him. Instead, they provided a bigger stage for his paranoia.
- The Secret: Much of the series focuses on Hernandez’s sexuality. While Shayanna Jenkins remains his biggest defender, the show leans into the reporting from the Gladiator podcast suggesting Aaron was a closeted gay man living in a hyper-masculine NFL world.
Why Odin Lloyd?
This is the question that still haunts the case. Odin Lloyd wasn’t a rival. He wasn't a threat. He was a semi-pro football player dating Shayanna’s sister. He was basically family.
On June 17, 2013, Lloyd’s body was found in an industrial park in North Attleborough, shot six times. The evidence against Hernandez wasn't just a "smoking gun"—they never actually found the .45 caliber Glock—but it was a mountain of digital breadcrumbs. Surveillance footage from his own home showed him holding a weapon. Bubble gum at the scene had his DNA. It was sloppy. It was the work of a man who didn't think he could be caught, or a man who didn't care.
Prosecutors never gave a perfect motive. Some say Lloyd knew too much about Hernandez's "other life." Others think it was a petty slight at a nightclub. Basically, Aaron was a powder keg, and any spark would do.
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The Science of a Broken Brain
After Hernandez took his own life in his cell in 2017, his family donated his brain to Boston University. What they found was horrifying. Dr. Ann McKee, the leading expert on CTE, said it was the most severe case of Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy she had ever seen in a 27-year-old.
His brain had Stage 3 CTE. To put that in perspective, researchers usually only see that kind of damage in players in their 60s. The parts of the brain responsible for impulse control and emotional regulation—the frontal lobes—were riddled with tau protein deposits.
Does CTE excuse murder? No. Thousands of players have CTE and don't kill people. But you can't talk about American Sports Story: Aaron Hernandez without acknowledging that his hardware was physically failing. He was paranoid, impulsive, and increasingly volatile. He was a man losing his mind in real-time while the world cheered for his athleticism.
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The Legal Loophole
There's a weird bit of Massachusetts law called "abatement ab initio." Because Hernandez died while his conviction for the Lloyd murder was still being appealed, the conviction was technically vacated. For a brief window, he was legally "innocent" again. This was later overturned by the state's highest court, but it added a final, bizarre layer to a story that was already too strange for fiction.
What We Can Learn from the Tragedy
This isn't just a "true crime" story. It’s a systemic failure. If you're looking for the takeaway from the saga of Aaron Hernandez, it's about the gaps in the system:
- Scouting Beyond the Field: Teams often ignore "red flags" if the 40-yard dash is fast enough. We need better mental health vetting in professional sports.
- CTE Awareness: Youth football remains a debate, but the Hernandez case proves that brain damage starts early. Protecting the head isn't just about longevity; it's about personality.
- Support Systems: Hernandez reached out to Bill Belichick asking for a trade because he felt unsafe in New England. He was told no. We have to wonder if a different environment could have changed the ending.
The best thing fans and observers can do now is stay informed on brain health research and support initiatives that provide athletes with mental health resources that aren't tied to their performance on the field. You can follow the work of the Concussion Legacy Foundation to see how brain research is evolving to prevent future tragedies.