The Hulu/FX limited series American Sports Story depicts a young Aaron Hernandez receiving several big hits during his football career. The first two episodes of American Sports Story, which premiered on September 17, 2024, on FX, capture a basic understanding of Aaron Hernandez’s complicated upbringing, tumultuous family life, and accelerated path to becoming a Florida Gator and New England Patriot. American Sports Story portrays several NFL players and coaches in addition to Hernandez, including superstar tight end Rob Gronkowski, legendary Patriots head coach Bill Belichick, and the Patriots’ billionaire owner Robert Kraft.

Josh Rivera leads the American Sports Story cast as Hernandez, a former collegiate and NFL superstar tight end who was convicted of murdering semi-pro football player Odin Lloyd in 2015. Hernandez was found guilty of killing Lloyd, who was his girlfriend’s sister’s boyfriend, on June 17, 2013, just two months before the Patriots offered him a five-year $40 million contract. He was arrested on first-degree murder charges just days after Lloyd’s death due to an overwhelming amount of circumstantial evidence against him. After receiving a lifetime prison sentence in 2015, he was put on trial again in 2017 for an unsolved double homicide case that took place in Boston in 2012.

Aaron Hernandez’s Head Hurts Because Of His Multiple Concussions

Concussions are unfortunately common in football and the NFL

Several scenes in the first two episodes of American Sports Story depict Hernandez taking violent blows to the head during high school and collegiate football games at the University of Florida. The series subtly includes these brief but greatly impactful moments because of the psychological and biological effects they would collectively have on the life and mind of Aaron Hernandez. Although Hernandez was proven to be a convicted killer, the multiple concussions that he suffered throughout his football career, including his three seasons with the New England Patriots, are believed to be connected to his unstable mindset with evidence and support by scientists.

Concussions are unfortunately quite common in football, particularly in the NFL, which recently changed its official protocol on concussions during NFL games. As of 2022, after Miami Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa was carted off the field with a head injury, the NFL put a new rule into effect that prohibited players showing signs of ataxia, a neurological symptom that indicates loss of musical coordination, from returning to the game. Hernandez officially had one concussion during his time with the New England Patriots but did not miss any games, playing through the compromising head injury (via Mass Live).

Aaron Hernandez Was Diagnosed With Severe CTE After His Death

Hernadez’s story cannot be fully told without considering the effects of CTE

Following Aaron’s death by suicide in 2017, his family donated his brain to Boston University’s CTE Center for examination. CTE, or chronic traumatic encephalopathy, is a neurodegenerative disease linked to repeated trauma to the head that can result in various cognitive and behavioral problems. According to a 2023 study by Boston University’s CTE Center, 345 out of 376 deceased former NFL players studied had CTE, creating a shockingly high diagnosis rate of 91.7% (via Boston University). Among those 376 NFL players was Aaron Hernandez, who was given a stage 3 CTE diagnosis.

Aaron Hernadnez’s CTE diagnosis provided potential avenues to understand his abrupt and seemingly unmotivated acts of violence. According to a 2020 study published by the National Library of Medicine, “It is certainly true that, following a posthumous diagnosis of CTE, understandings of Hernandez’s behaviour change significantly: his culpability (for both his criminal behaviour and his suicide) is questioned and diminished; his aggression is no longer unquestioningly monstrous and is brought into contact with the lived-experience of caregivers supporting individuals with dementia. CTE, undoubtedly, became entangled with the story of Aaron Hernandez.” Several other NFL players who had advanced cases of CTE, including former New England Patriot Junior Seau who retired the year before Hernandez was drafted, also died by suicide (via SportsKeeda).

Aaron Hernandez’s CTE Diagnosis Shocked Researchers

He had the worst case out of any young person ever before seen

Not only did Aaron Hernandez have an advanced case of CTE but he also had a historic one. According to Boston University, Hernadnez’s CTE is said to be the worst degree for any young person that the BU CTE Center has ever seen, even in cases of non-football players. Ann McKee, director of BU’s CTE Center, said, “We’ve never seen…in our 468 brains, except for individuals very much older. Individuals with similar gross findings…were at least 46 years old at the time of death.” She added, “In every place that we looked, it was classic CTE. This is substantial damage that undoubtedly took years to develop.” Hernandez’s CTE is another tragic component of his life in American Sports Story.

Source: Mass Live, Boston University, National Library of Medicine, SportsKeeda