Hernandez played college football for the Florida Gators, earning first-team All-American honors and winning the 2009 BCS National Championship Game.

Alongside teammate Rob Gronkowski, Hernandez formed one of the league's most dominant tight end duos, becoming the first pair to score at least five touchdowns each in consecutive seasons for the same team.

The athletic gifts were obvious, but behind them was an angry teenager struggling with an abusive upbringing, a growing dependence on drugs, and questions about his own sexual identity.

[21] As a junior in 2009, and after leading the team in receptions with 68 for 850 yards and five touchdowns, Hernandez won the John Mackey Award as the nation's best tight end.

Multiple teams elected to remove Hernandez from their draft boards entirely due to character concerns, including the Indianapolis Colts, Cincinnati Bengals, and Miami Dolphins.

[34] The Patriots signed free agent Alge Crumpler and drafted Hernandez and Gronkowski after they overhauled the tight end position by releasing Benjamin Watson and opting to not re-sign Chris Baker and backup Michael Matthews.

[37] Later that day, the Patriots released a statement from Hernandez, who said that he had failed only one drug test while in college and was candid about it to interested teams at the NFL Combine.

[44] On December 19, 2010, Hernandez made four catches for 31 yards and caught two touchdown passes in the Patriots' 31–27 win against the Green Bay Packers in Week 15.

On January 16, 2011, Hernandez started in his first career playoff game and caught one pass for a four-yard gain as the Patriots lost 28–21 against the New York Jets in the AFC Divisional Round.

[55] The following week, Hernandez made seven receptions for 62-yards and a touchdown before exiting in the third quarter of the Patriots' 35–21 win against the San Diego Chargers due to a knee injury.

Hernandez was perceived as a snub for the Pro Bowl by many analysts who argued he was more deserving than San Diego Chargers' tight end Antonio Gates.

[62] The combination of Hernandez and Gronkowski tied for the most touchdown receptions in 2011 with the Green Bay Packers' wide receiver tandem of Jordy Nelson and Greg Jennings.

On February 5, 2012, Hernandez started in Super Bowl XLVI and caught eight passes for 67-yards and made a 12-yard touchdown reception as the Patriots lost 21–17 to the New York Giants.

[19] After his death, his high school teammate Dennis SanSoucie said that being drafted by the Patriots "was the worst thing the NFL could have done" because it put him back into close proximity to the criminal friends he had in Connecticut.

[77][78] On September 30, 2007, someone approached a car containing Randall Carson, Justin Glass, and Corey Smith on foot and fired five shots while they were waiting at a Gainesville traffic light after having left a nightclub.

Carson, a back-seat passenger, was unharmed, and told police that the shooter was a "Hawaiian" or "Hispanic" male with a large build weighing about 230 lb (100 kg) and having many tattoos.

[14][79] When police walked into the room to speak to Hernandez, the last of the players to be interviewed, they found him with his head down on the table and sleeping, a posture they said was unusual for someone in the middle of a shooting investigation.

[14] No charges were filed at the time but, due to his 2013 arrest and subsequent conviction for the murder of Odin Lloyd, Massachusetts authorities contacted police in Florida to try to determine whether Hernandez was suspected to have a role in the 2007 shooting.

[71][81] Daniel Jorge Correia de Abreu, 29, and Safiro Teixeira Furtado, 28, both immigrants from Cape Verde and living in Dorchester, were killed by gunshots fired into their vehicle.

[87] Furthermore, Baez characterized the police investigation as extraordinarily sloppy (e.g., the victims' bodies were kept in their bullet-riddled vehicle as it was towed away from the shooting scene, a major protocol violation) with no physical evidence tying Hernandez to the murders.

[114] The NFL salary cap allows teams to pro-rate signing bonuses over the life of a contract or a five-year period, whichever is shorter.

[119] After visitor complaints, a prize-winning photo of Hernandez from his rookie season, depicting him triumphantly high-stepping into the end zone in front of Green Bay Packers cornerback Sam Shields, was removed from the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

[70] Two days before his death, reporter Michele McPhee appeared on the Kirk and Callahan sports radio show, during which she and the two hosts used innuendo to imply that Hernandez was gay.

[70] State Department of Correction spokesman Christopher Fallon first said that no suicide note was found in the initial search of the two-person cell, which Hernandez occupied alone.

[136][70] Shampoo was found covering the floor, cardboard was wedged under the cell door to make it difficult for someone to enter, and there were drawings in blood[b] on the walls showing an unfinished pyramid and the all-seeing eye of God, with the word "Illuminati" written in capital letters underneath.

[87] One short letter was addressed to Baez, thanking him for securing the acquittal in the double homicide and anticipating an appeal in the Odin Lloyd case.

[87] He told Jenkins "You're rich," which prosecutors in the Lloyd case believed was a reference to abatement ab initio, the legal doctrine that vacates convictions if a defendant dies before his appeals are exhausted.

"[150] Hernandez was featured in an "In Memoriam" video that paid tribute to NFL players who died in the last year at the U.S. Bank Stadium ahead of Super Bowl LII, surprising reporters in the audience.

[8] Hernandez had two confirmed concussions since he began playing football at eight years old, but the Boston Globe believed "he undoubtedly took other punishing hits to the head that were never recorded.

[8][164] Sam Gandy of Mount Sinai Hospital in New York said, "It's impossible for me to look at the severity of CTE and Mr. Hernandez's brain and not think that that had a profound effect on his behavior.