American Sports Story is FX’s new true crime drama series (also airing on Hulu and Disney+) which tells the story of former NFL player and convicted murderer, Aaron Hernandez. The series is based on the Wondery podcast, Gladiator: Aaron Hernandez and Football Inc, and it debuted its first two episodes on September 17, 2024. It’ll consist of 10 episodes and will air its finale on November 12.

American Sports Story is a spin-off series based on Ryan Murphy’s successful American Story franchise, and he is an executive producer alongside showrunner, Stuart Zicherman. It stars Josh Rivera as Aaron Hernandez and the series explores the origins of his troubled home life and the events leading up to his crimes. Ryan Murphy’s new true-crime series, Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story debuted on Netflix on September 19.

American Sports Story Is A Dramatization Of The Life And Crimes Of Aaron Hernandez

Confirmed Episode Titles

• Episode 1: If It’s To Be
• Episode 2: Consequences, with Extreme Prejudices
• Episode 3: Pray The Gay Away
• Episode 4: Birthday Money
• Episode 5: The Man
• Episode 9: What’s Left Behind?
• Episode 10: Who Killed Aaron Hernandez?

Aaron Hernandez Was A Promising NFL Player Before He Committed A Series Of Brutal Murders

Aaron Hernandez was born in Bristol, Connecticut, on November 6, 1989. He suffered childhood abuse but found solace in American football. He was a college football player with the Florida Gators, but his off-field problems with drugs and alcohol hampered his progression. However, he eventually made the step-up and joined the New England Patriots and played alongside Tom Brady in the 2012 Super Bowl. Despite losing the game to the New York Giants, Hernandez scored a touchdown and put in a strong performance and earned himself a five-year, $40 million contract extension. The future looked bright for Hernandez, but things took a shocking turn. During the off season in 2013, Hernandez was arrested and charged with the murder of Odin Lloyd, a semi-professional player. Hernandez was released by the New England Patriots immediately after his arrest. He was found guilty of first-degree murder in 2015 and sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

During his trial for the murder of Odin Lloyd, Hernandez was also indicted for the double murder of Daniel de Abreu and Safiro Furtado in 2012. However, he was controversially acquitted in 2017. A few days after his acquittal, Hernandez was found dead in his cell, and his untimely death was ruled as a suicide. In a strange turn of events, Hernandez’s murder conviction was vacated because he died during the appeals process. However, it was reinstated in 2019 following an appeal by prosecutors and outrage from Lloyd’s family.

Hernandez was posthumously diagnosed with chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), which led to a debate in the American football world, with many people speculating that this condition could’ve affected Hernandez’s behavior and led to him committing murder. The debate over CTE is not limited to Hernandez’s case, with six other NFL players committing murder, and the possibility that they were also suffering from CTE. It can only be tested after a person dies, which makes it harder to link certain crimes to CTE. The trial and discovery of the former NFL’s condition were explored in the true-crime masterpiece documentary series Killer Inside: The Mind Of Aaron Hernandez on Netflix.

NFL Players Who Have Committed Murder

• O. J. Simpson – Brutally killed his ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend, Ron Goldman on June 12, 1994. Simpson died in April 2024, but his family refused to have his brain tested for CTE.
• Robert Rozier – A defensive end for the St Louis Cardinals. He was charged with the murder of at least four people in 1986.
• Tommy Kane – Played for the Seattle Seahawks. After he retired, he brutally beat and stabbed his estranged wife, Tammara Shaikh, to death. He pleaded guilty to manslaughter, and was sentenced to only 18 years in prison for the shocking crime after claiming he suffered from depression and didn’t remember the attack. (Loss of memory is a key component of CTE, but as Kane is still alive, it can’t be confirmed if he suffers from the disorder)
• Leonard Little – Played with the St Louis Rams for 12 years and won a Super Bowl in 2000. The same year he was drafted, he killed a woman called Susan Gutweiler in a car crash.
• Henry Ruggs – Played for the Las Vegas Raiders, but his career ended in his second season after he crashed into a car, killing a woman called Tina Tintor.
• Randall Woodfield – Joined the Green Bay Packers in 1974, but he was released before playing a game due to several arrests for indecent exposure. He was convicted of murder and handed a life sentence. Police think he could’ve committed as many as 44 murders.

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