Aaron Hernandez could be back in the NFL in as little as three or four years, provided he doesn't receive some sort of extended sentence on the first-degree murder charges he now faces, according to CBS Sports.
"I think the case is not only beatable... I think they've grossly overcharged him based on the case they're building--- no direct eye witness, no murder weapon and no plausible motive," Paul Solotaraff, one of the authors of a new Rolling Stone piece detailing Hernandez's litany of troubles, told CBS.
Hernandez, 23, remains jailed without bail in the June 17 killing of Odin Lloyd. The former New England Patriots tight end is also thought to be the focus of an ongoing grand jury probe into a 2012 unsolved double-slaying in Boston.
"His principle nemesis at this point is likely to be the five gun charges levied against him," Solotaroff told CBS. "I think they got him dead to rights on most of those. But as crazy as it sounds, this is a guy with no priors. So asking a judge to sentence Hernandez to consecutive prison bids is going to be a very hard sell for the prosecution.
Solotaroff later added "if in fact he winds up doing three years behind bars for those gun charges he's 26, 27, with very low mileage on those legs and a lot of time to heal up. My sources tell me there will be more than one NFL team pursuing him hotly when he walks out of jail in four years."
In the Rolling Stone piece, Solotaroff also intimates that Patriots coach Bill Belichick seemed to know about at least some of Hernandez's troubles and dealings prior to his arrest and concludes part of his problem has always been there were never any consequences for his actions.
"He did the one-game suspension in college," Solotaroff said of a penalty once imposed on Hernandez while he was still at Florida after a string of incidents. "Clearly, he had done enough to merit at least a half-season suspension. Never got it. Never missed a snap after that."
Just twelve months prior to the Lloyd killing, the Patriots signed Hernandez to a five-year, $40 million extension.
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