The Aaron Hernandez case has not been in the news much lately, but the former Patriots star has been mentioned quite a bit after DeSean Jackson was released, as that was linked to possible gang connections and now Hernandez awaits his next court date and a trial is still not set in the Odin Lloyd murder case and as that goes on he has been visited by his girlfriend Shayanna Jenkins and his child Avielle Janelle.
The Patriots have still had to deal with the repercussions of cutting Hernandez after he was arrested last year and now the team ranks 15th in dead money heading into 2014, according to ESPN.com. The team ranks 15th in the league with $10.38 million and that comes from a $7.5 million total for Hernandez, which came after the team released him from his $40 million contract after he was arrested last year for the murder of Odin Lloyd. Hernandez still does not have a trial date set in the case and he remains locked up in jail as he waits.
The Patriots would have been in the top five in the NFL without the Hernandez money, but that has not stopped them from being active this offseason, as they signed Brandon LaFell and Darrelle Revis to deals. Check here for details on the dead money from Hernandez from PatriotsFans.com, as they give a nice rundown of what's going on. The Patriots got rid of Hernandez quickly and while DeSean Jackson didn't murder anyone, his name came up in connection to some people that did and that was enough for the Eagles to make a move.
A report from NJ.com came out the day the Eagles released him and while they had their reasons since he was making $10.5 million, that report made it look bad for the Eagles. There was no direct connection saying that Jackson was a gang member, but associations were enough for the Eagles to release him and Richard Sherman made his opinions known about it as well. Hernandez has cast a shadow on the league and while he doesn't get talked about, clearly it had an effect here on the Eagles situation.
Hernandez's girlfriend Jenkins faced perjury charges in his murder case and that could come up again and the judge in the case last month ruled that she would not change a gag order that she imposed in the case earlier. Hernandez and his team are building their defense and so far the murder weapon has not been found in the case and no trial date has yet been set.