The Aaron Hernandez story is approximately one month old and almost everyone related to the subject has commented. For the first time Monday, the man who wrote Hernandez’s checks for the past three seasons, New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft, finally spoke to the media on the issue, according to ESPNBoston.com.
Kraft said he had thought Hernandez was a “likeable young man.” Now he realizes the Patriots “made a mistake and are facing it head on.”
"You can be sure we'll be looking at our procedures and auditing how we do things,” he said.
Today is the first business day Kraft has been back in the country since his trip to Europe. While speaking to reporters Kraft pointed out his general counsel had actually advised him to forego the press conference. However, the Patrots owner said it was “important that our fan base hear directly from our organization” in a face-to-face manner.
Kraft also gave his condolences to the family of Odin Lloyd, Hernadez’s alleged murder victim.
"My heart goes out to the Lloyd family," he said. "I feel bad that someone connected to our organization is connected to this."
In a statement Kraft read to reporters, he discussed Hernandez’s release from the team.
"Following Aaron's arrest, I read a number of different accounts of how things transpired in our organization. Let me be clear: We decided the week prior to Aaron's arrest that if Aaron was arrested in connection with the Lloyd murder case that we would cut him immediately after," he read. "The rationale behind that decision was that if any member of the New England Patriots organization is close enough to a murder investigation to actually get arrested -- whether it be for obstruction of justice or the crime itself, it is too close to an unthinkable act for that person to be part of this organization going forward."
There have been reports that some Patriots players said it was not surprising Hernandez got arrested. However, Kraft said Hernandez was a good guy.
"When he was in our building, we never saw anything where he was not polite. He was always respectful to me. We only know what's going on inside the building. We don't put private eyes on people," he said.
"He spoke to me about wanting to be a role model in the Hispanic community," Kraft added. "... I believed him. ... He knew how to push my buttons."
However, Kraft acknowledged, “If this stuff is true, then I’ve been duped and our whole organization has been duped.”
In the summer of 2012,the Patriots signed Hernandez to a contract extension to 2018. The deal included a signing bonus of $12.5 million and could have gave Hernandez as much as $40 million.
Kraft was asked if Hernandez was put on a short leash by the team or any coaches. He explained the organization would not have signed such a big contract if Hernandez had been on a leash.
"It obviously wasn't the correct decision," he admitted.
