Adviser: Patriots structured Aaron Hernandez's contract around troubled past

When the New England Patriots drafted Aaron Hernandez in the fourth round of the 2010 NFL draft, they knew they were taking a gamble.

Hernandez's troubled past wasn't a complete mystery. He'd failed a drug test (or tests) at the University of Florida, and there were rumors about a thug life. So when the Patriots signed him to his rookie contract, the deal was structured so that "75 percent of the money in the contract set up so that he would only make it if he stayed out of trouble, didn’t miss meetings, was always there doing the right thing," according to an MMQB interview with Floyd Reese, a senior adviser with the team at the time Hernandez was drafted.

"And for the period of the original contract, he lived up to every bit of it. So it turned out well," Reese told MMQB. "Of course, after that, after he signed [his $40 million contract extension], things kind of went awry."

After he signed the $40 million contract extension?

Hernandez is actually accused of killing two people in a drive-by shooting that occurred a month before the Patriots signed him to that $40 million contract extension.

Kind of went awry?

Aside from the double-homicide charge he has yet to face, on Wednesday he was found guilty of first-degree murder in the shooting death of Odin Lloyd.

Reese acknowledges the Patriots were aware Hernandez "had some issues" at Florida, but doesn't go into specifics. They definitely knew about the failed drug test(s), and it's likely they knew of an alleged incident in 2007 when Hernandez, then just a 17-year-old incoming freshman, punched a bar employee in the head, bursting his eardrum. A police report was filed following the altercation, meaning knowledge of the incident likely would have turned up in any cursory background check.

There was also a psychological profile done before the 2010 draft that, according to the Wall Street Journal, indicated Hernandez enjoyed "living on the edge of acceptable behavior."

It's not clear if the Patriots had seen that report prior to drafting him – they refused comment to the Wall Street Journal – but what is clear is that they deemed him worth the gamble despite knowledge of a troubled history.

"It was just from our standpoint, we were getting a first-round talent in the fourth round under a contract that was going to keep him in line or it wasn't going to cost us a penny," Reese told MMQB.

Reese went on to say that Hernandez being drafted by a team located within a short drive of where he grew up (in a rough-and-tumble neighborhood of Bristol, Conn., outside of Hartford) may have contributed to his downfall.

"There were a lot of times where he would leave Foxboro [Mass., home of the Patriots] and drive back to Hartford so he could be with his guys," Reese explained.

"… The truth is, the vast majority of guys that have maybe had a tough upbringing, when you throw them into a great locker room, great organization, great place to play, they come out of it. They see the other side of it. 'Why would I ever want to go back to that other place?' The problem is you run into an Aaron Hernandez, who can't get there. He's comfortable back in Hartford … with all that trouble."

As of now, Hernandez is back in the Foxboro area, housed at the Massachusetts Correctional Institution – Cedar Junction, just a mile or so from Gillette Stadium.