Report: New England Patriots to Try and Get Money Back From Aaron Hernandez Deal
By Chris Roling
The New England Patriots cut ties with tight end Aaron Hernandez early Wednesday before it was officially announced he would be charged with murder and five-counts of firearm charges.
New England’s decision to cut Hernandez was a very, very costly one in a financial sense.
That said, reports indicate the Patriots are going to attempt to get some money back from Hernandez and block future payments given the ridiculous circumstances. Mike Florio of ProFootballTalk has the reports:
"Based on everything we’ve heard and been told in the past five hours, we fully expect the Patriots to do whatever they can to try to recover money that has been paid to Hernandez, and to block the flow of any future payments.The future payments are the key. Under his contract, a copy of which PFT has obtained, Hernandez is due to receive $3.25 million on March 31, 2014, which completes his $12.5 million signing bonus. We currently believe the Patriots will refuse to pay it, forcing Hernandez to take even more hits in the court of public opinion by fighting — possibly from a jail cell — the team’s decision to cut him off."
This should not come as a surprise. New England made a huge mistake not putting any language in the contract on the chance something like this would happen. Now the Patriots will reportedly enter a very public battle with Hernandez and his representatives for money the organization agreed to pay him no matter what—while he stands trial for murder and other charges.
Stay tuned.
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