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I'm not sure I agree with everything said here, as the Patriots have opened themselves up to a serious wrongful termination suit if Hernandez is acquitted. (Not saying that that is likely, though.) But what the Patriots have done since (like offering to exchange jerseys of equal or lesser value with fans) DOES show what the Patriots think of the guy, as does their snap decision to drop him upon his arrest, despite the fact that they had no clue that he'd be charged with murder; they thought he'd get off with obstruction of justice, but wanted an excuse to get him as far away from the locker room as they could. His SUV incident of a few months ago ("I'm Aaron Hernandez, officers! It's OK!") says a LOT about his character.

So, while in general I would disagree with snap decisions like this, perhaps this incident was merely the straw that broke the camel's back for Hernandez. The closing comment about this setting a template for other teams in dealing with recalcitrant players in trouble with the law could be instructive for the future.

http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/nfl-shutd ... VM-;_ylv=3

SuperHornet wrote:I'm not sure I agree with everything said here, as the Patriots have opened themselves up to a serious wrongful termination suit if Hernandez is acquitted. (Not saying that that is likely, though.) But what the Patriots have done since (like offering to exchange jerseys of equal or lesser value with fans) DOES show what the Patriots think of the guy, as does their snap decision to drop him upon his arrest, despite the fact that they had no clue that he'd be charged with murder; they thought he'd get off with obstruction of justice, but wanted an excuse to get him as far away from the locker room as they could. His SUV incident of a few months ago ("I'm Aaron Hernandez, officers! It's OK!") says a LOT about his character.

So, while in general I would disagree with snap decisions like this, perhaps this incident was merely the straw that broke the camel's back for Hernandez. The closing comment about this setting a template for other teams in dealing with recalcitrant players in trouble with the law could be instructive for the future.

http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/nfl-shutd ... VM-;_ylv=3

Not sure there would be a chance of losing a wrongful termination suit for the Pats. Player contracts are not guaranteed (except for the guaranteed money - which I understand there may be a separate fight over but that is a contract issue) and those who are arrested are generally not a protected class though that is changing - see recent EEOC guidance on the issue. It would be a huge uphill battle for Hernandez to win a wrongful termination suit if he were to be acquitted in this case.

Agree with the rest of your comments though

I was merely stating a generality there, tribe. The Pats may feel as if the current arrest may be the continuation of a pattern of behavior that justifies termination for cause. (There are also individual acts, such as embezzlement, that would justify immediate termination for cause, but such are highly unlikely in the case of a professional athlete, as they generally don't have access to the team treasury.) If that's the case, you're correct in that a wrongful termination suit would go nowhere. I'm just stating a general principle that organizations should GENERALLY go slowly with something like this, as opposed to going off half-cocked so as to appear as if they are "doing something," whatever that means.