All eyes are on the Aaron Hernandez trial as the jury has resumed there 6th day of deliberations for the 2013 murder of Odin Lloyd. But while a jury of 12 of his peers decide the fate of the once promissing NFL tight end, a completely different set of evaluators have a even more important decison to make: whether he belongs enshrined in Canton.
While Hernandez might not have the jaw-dropping stats that many voters look for when determining whether or not a players gets a bust in the hollowed grounds of Ohio, its important that we have the discusson right now on his eligibility. If theres one good thing that can come out of the senseless murder of a 27 year-old its that we can begin the conversaton about whether his accused killer deserves to be honoered amongst the NFLs all-time greats.
Youve already got a entire team of “gotcha” prosecutors trying play the murder card to get him locked up, the last thing this persecuted young man needs is for us to be discrimnating against his on-the-field accomplishments. Its not called “the hall of very would-you-allow-your-daughter-to-date-them.” Its about what happens on the field and just because he has been investgated for shooting 2 of his best friends and 3 total strangers on 4 independent occasons for no real reason other then the fact he felt disrespected dosent mean we shouldnt talk about him with the highest degree of reverence for the way he played sports.
Technicaly, you could make the case that Hernendez’s “extracirricular” miscues actually strengthen his Hall of Fame eligibilty. The fact that he was able to execute on and off the field without missing a step tells me that his was a once in a generaton talent- a modern day “Killin’ Winslow.” He would keep defensive coordinators up all night thinking about how to stop the Patriots bad boy dynamic duo, but he was his own man- allways more of a Shoot Gronkowski then a Rob Gronkowski. The two were just a real treat to watch on Sundays and if you thought he was getting away with murder outside the lines imagine how a defense of back felt when Hernandez used that big frame to box him out. What made him such a bad person off the field made him a very good person on the field.
So all Im saying is that by the time Hernendez is 4 years into a as-of-yet undetermine amount of consecutive life sentences for murdering people, his name will pop up on our Hall of Fame ballots,, and society will have owed him the favor of judging his HOF credentals by his actions on the field, not in a Attleboro Industrial business park, or inside his car with his friend, or on a dimly lit Gainesville street, or inside another car with other friends.