Aaron Hernandez asked Bill Belichick to trade him in 2013 due to safety concerns.
The former tight end, now deceased, was worried for his fiancee and daughter and asked to be moved to a team on the West Coast, per court documents obtained by the Boston Globe in 2018.
Belichick told Massachusetts State Police, as well as a North Attleborough police captain that Hernandez was convinced “people might potentially harm” Shayanna Jenkins and their daughter.
Hernandez told Belichick he “was not concerned about his own safety because he had money,” but wanted to be traded or released.
The coach declined the request and offered to connect him with the team’s head of security instead. Hernandez refused the offer, though he did accept help searching for a new place to live.
The trade request was made four months before Hernandez shot and killed Odin Lloyd.
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He was found guilty of first-degree murder in 2015 and was discovered hanging from the window of his prison cell in 2017.
Could tragedy have been avoided had Belichick acceded to the player’s request? We will never know. But Hernandez would have likely ended up in some sort of given the destructive path he was already on.
