A summary of the Aaron Hernandez/DeSean Jackson parallels

Assuming you have a pulse and internet connectivity, you've heard the news by now that the Eagles have released WR DeSean Jackson, with concerns about his alleged gang ties amongst the motivations for the move.

Jackson first landed on Patriots fans radar last week when it was reported that the Pats had inquired about his availability. Many Pats fans have been clamoring for the team to sign him since that report surfaced, despite the many red flags Jackson was already carrying even before adding extensive evidence of gang affiliations. In fact, as I write this, the votes on our poll are 251-197, with 56% of you in favor of signing him.

Make no doubt about it: if Robert Kraft is ruling out Kenny Britt, there isn't a snowball's chance in hell of them signing Jackson. The Aaron Hernandez case is rightly still fresh on the organization's mind, and there are a number of striking similarities between Jackson and Hernandez's stories. Lets take a look at a few of them here.

Both started "hanging out with the wrong crowd" in high school after their father died

Jackson: (from NJ.com's newsbreaking story on the issue)

At least one person close to Jackson believes the troubling associations date back to the mid-2000’s, when his father, Bill, was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer.

"The loss of his father was devastating for him," Raul Lara, Jackson's former football coach at Poly High School in Long Beach, California, told NJ.com. "When his dad passed away, I think DeSean started to hang around some not-so-good people."

Lara is quoted later in the story on the same issue, and denies any knowledge of Jackson being involved with gangs. Of course, we all know how reliable football coaches are when it comes to knowing what their players are up to off the field.
"I was a little worried about him after his father passed. I know his mother tried to get involved [in his life], but I haven't seen any indication [Jackson is involved with gangs] outside of him starting up his rap label. Athletes like to portray a tough image with gangsters and whatever else. Maybe he's playing into that. That's a part of him that I never really saw."

Hernandez: (from the NY Daily News)
Darker days preceded that gilded run. Hernandez was a nightmare for his mother in light of his father’s death, which occurred before senior year in high school.

“It was a rough process, and I didn’t know what to do for him,” Hernandez’s mother, Terri, told USA Today in 2009. “He would rebel. It was very, very hard, and he was very, very angry. He wasn’t the same kid, the way he spoke to me. The shock of losing his dad, there was so much anger.”

and from Rolling Stone (albeit with the disclaimer that the involvement of Ron Borges does call some of this article's credibility into question)
With Cummings around, Aaron began getting scarce, spending a lot of time with family across town, in a roughneck stretch called Lake Avenue. This was the Bristol version of downward mobility, a hop from the hot plate to the fire. His father’s brother-in-law, Uncle Tito, had a house up the block from the projects, where he lived with his grown daughter Tanya – the woman Cummings had ditched to be with Terri. Aaron and Tanya, first cousins bonded by loss, drew close very quickly, friends say. (He has the name of her son – Jano – tattooed on his chest, and has supported them both financially since college.) Among the dubious people hanging around the house were goons like Ernest Wallace and T.L. Singleton, an older-but-not-wiser drug dealer who’d been in and out of prison since the Nineties. Singleton would wind up marrying Tanya and siring a child with her after Cummings left. Along with fringe hustlers like Carlos Ortiz, the angel-dust tweaker, they filled the heart-size hole Dennis left, bolstering Aaron with bromides about family love and vowing that they’d always have his back – which is another way of saying they sunk their claws in. Their motives couldn’t have been plainer if they’d hung them in neon: Here was a kid with can’t-miss skills, a malleable man-child who’d be rich one day and fly them out of the hood in his G-5. All they had to do was get him high and gas his head, inflame his sense of grievance at life’s unfairness.

Both saw their troubles continue in college, ultimately causing them to slip in the draft

Jackson:  As far as we know, Jackson doesn't have any cases of being questioned by police about a shooting, or breaking a bar manager's eardrum with a sucker punch during his days at Cal, but that doesn't mean Jackson was an angel in college. He was a known hot-head who was benched for the first quarter of a bowl game due to breaking team rules, and questions about his maturity and work ethic lead to him to fall into the second round of the 2008 draft, despite his undeniable talent. He was the seventh receiver taken in the first draft without a receiver taken in the first round, falling behind Donnie Avery, Devin Thomas, Jordy Nelson, James Hardy, Eddie Royal, and Jerome Simpson.

Hernandez: Numerous failed drug tests. Being questioned by police about a shooting. Breaking a bar manager's eardrum with a sucker punch. Gun toting selfies. We all know the lengthy history of warning signs Hernandez left all over Gainesville now, although most of this was swept under the rug at the time and came out well after the fact. Hernandez was a Mackey Award winner with 1st/2nd round talent, but dropped all the way to the fourth round.

Both have troubling links to gangs, or at least gang members

Jackson: While he's never been suspected in any gang-related crime, Jackson has been indirectly linked to two murder cases, both involving known members of the LA-based Crips.
Jackson was, however, associated with Theron Shakir, one of the two men charged with the murder. Along with co-defendant Marques Binns, Shakir is a purported member of the Crips. In addition, Shakir, known as "T-Ron," is a rapper who recorded for Jaccpot Records, a label owned by Jackson. The two were close enough that they appear together frequently in photographs -- including pictures posted by Jackson to Instagram while Shakir sat in jail awaiting trial for the teen's execution.


Shakir, who was, in fact, acquitted of Watson's murder and a related gun charge in January 2013, spent more than a year in jail awaiting trial. (Binns was convicted and sentenced to 15 years to life.) In a photo apparently taken shortly after his release, Shakir is shown still wearing his L.A. County Jail T-shirt while someone who appears to be Jackson holds up a Jaccpot chain.


A second case occurred two years ago, in 2012.
This time, Jackson's name surfaced as part of an investigation into a 2012 gang-related murder that occurred outside a South Los Angeles business where a party had taken place. The building was owned or leased by a member of Jackson's family, police said.

During a search of the building, Crosson told NJ.com investigators found several documents belonging to Jackson, including a car title, a gun permit issued in New Jersey and credit-card receipts.

He has a very public history of throwing up well-known gang signs.
Jackson routinely flashes Crip gang signs in photos on social media -- and even on television during an NFL game.

"You don't want to see anybody throwing up gang signs like he did in the Redskins game last year," Crosson said. "Those were neighborhood Crip gang signs and he flashed them during a game. He may not be affiliated with the gang, but they don't [ordinarily] take kindly to those not in the gang throwing up those gang signs."

Last season, Jackson appeared to throw up the hand gesture in the face of Washington Redskins defensive back DeAngelo Hall after a reception in the Eagles' season-opener. Jackson also can be seen contorting his fingers to make a "C" -- another Crips sign -- in a music video he shot with former fellow Poly High student Snoop Dogg. Jackson flashed it yet again while wearing an Anaheim Angels hat on Instagram.

 Oh, and the name of that label? Jaccpot? There's possible gang ties to that as well.
The two C's in Jaccpot, cops believed, were symbolic. Crips avoid putting a "C" next to a "K" because in gangspeak, that stands for "Crip Killer." Crosson said Jackson explained the spelling by saying the Internet domain name for Jackpot "was taken."

Hernandez: 

There isn't as much hard evidence connecting Hernandez to any gangs as there is with Jackson and the crips, but there are rumors Hernandez was affiliated with the Bloods. Hernandez has also been photographed making gang signs, and rumors of gang affiliations amongst scouts may have contributed to Hernandez's fall to the fourth round of the 2010 draft.
But there were whispers at the time, too, that Hernandez was caught up in more serious things. The word "gang" was bandied about in conversation. Since team officials I talked to at the time said it never really went past the rumor stage, we decided, in print, to stay away from it. What was obvious was this was a guy, with drugs and otherwise, who had a way of getting himself into and then out of trouble.
Hernandez has also been photographed throwing up gang signs, and has a red tattoo reading "blood" on his hand. The tat is part of the phrase "blood, sweat and tears", but raised eyebrows when Hernandez was arrested, considering the rumors already swirling about his affiliations.

Both got paid and subsequently increased their erratic behavior


Jackson: The Eagles signed Jackson to a five year, $48.5 million contract extension. They grew to regret that decision in just two years. 

A bad attitude, an inconsistent work ethic, missed meetings and a lack of chemistry with head coach Chip Kelly are the reasons, sources told NJ.com. And when the Eagles looked more deeply into why Jackson was missing meetings, they found that his friends were becoming a more powerful -- and negative -- influence in his life.


Hernandez: 

Hernandez signed a five year, $40 million extension with the Patriots in 2012. While he was always considered to be a bit of a loner in the Patriots locker room, most reports conclude that 2012 saw Hernandez get far more involved with his hometown friends (including Ernest Wallace and Carlos Ortiz, his alleged accomplices in the murder of Odin Lloyd). It's probably not a coincidence that this is around when Hernandez is said to have gotten hooked on PCP, which explains a lot of his erratic and paranoid behavior in the months leading up to the Lloyd murder. Hernandez also apparently bristled at Bill Belichick when the coach asked him to cut ties with his friends from home.


In conclusion:

Now, does this mean DeSean Jackson is a walking murder trial about to happen? Of course not. As far as we know, Jackson isn't a known member of any gangs, and has no direct involvement in either of the aforementioned murder cases. There also aren't any rumors of PCP addiction with Jackson, something that seems to have greased the skids for Hernandez's dangerous behavior. Jackson has already issued a public statement denying any gang involvement, and there's already six teams talking to his agents according to Adam Schefter. Some have also spoken out about the timing of the report, accusing the Eagles of slandering Jackson to ease the PR sting of the move.

However, there's an awful lot of evidence to suggest, at the very least, that Jackson hangs out with gang members. Photos of him, hanging out with known Crips. His record label putting out rap recordings of known Crips. DeSean throwing up a Crip sign in DeAngelo Hall's face last year on Monday Night Football. Keep in mind the NJ.com article came not anonymous sources, but the LAPD. He's most likely not actually in the Crips (for starters, no Crip worth his salt would be caught dead throwing signs in a red LA Angels cap), but the evidence strongly suggests that he, at the very least, knows plenty of people that are.

That alone should (and will) be enough for the Patriots to stay away. Whatever short-term benefits the Pats may gain from signing Jackson would be dwarfed by the long-term harm to the franchise brand. Simply put, the Patriots are rightly held to a different standard, at least right now in the aftermath of Hernandez. We as fans don't need to worry about the PR nightmare a Jackson signing would be, but Robert Kraft and the rest of the organization decision makers do. It's one of the basic rules of business PR: "Don't hire a gun-wielding hothead with rumored gang ties less than a year after the last gun-wielding hothead with rumored gang ties you hired got arrested for execution-style murder". This is common sense, people.

I was of the opinion that the Patriots should stay clear of Jackson even before this report surfaced. Throwing possible gang affiliations and eerie Hernandez parallels on top of his previously known attitude issues, inconsistent work ethic and general hot-headedness merely strengthens my conviction that the Patriots shouldn't touch this guy with a 10 foot pole.