Podcast: Behind the scenes on Netflix's Aaron Hernandez documentary series
With the college football season in the rearview mirror, the latest Yahoo Sports College Podcast takes a different route this week.
Yahoo Sports’ Dan Wetzel was an executive producer on Netflix’s “Killer Inside: The Mind of Aaron Hernandez.” Yahoo’s Pete Thamel and Sports Illustrated’s Pat Forde talk with Wetzel about the three-part series released Jan. 15.
“We have the phone calls of Aaron talking to his mom, his fiancee, his friends,” Wetzel said on the podcast. “I think what’s fascinating is each conversation he has he has a different voice … He’s different with each person. There’s vicious fights, they’re yelling at each other.”
The former New England Patriots tight end convicted of murdering Odin Lloyd in 2013 killed himself in April of 2017 at the age of 27.
The docuseries explores Hernandez’s turbulent and complicated life and is available to all Netflix subscribers.
The Connecticut native played at the University of Florida for three seasons and had 68 catches for 850 yards and five scores as a junior on the way to winning the John Mackey Award for the best college tight end in the country.
Hernandez declared for the NFL draft after that 2009 season but slid until the fourth round because of the trouble he had gotten into while with the Gators. Hernandez had said he used marijuana frequently while at Florida and was suspended for the beginning of his sophomore season for failing a drug test.
Hernandez immediately became one of the Patriots’ best receivers. He had 79 catches for 910 yards and seven scores in 14 games in 2011. But he never played football again after the 2012 season after he was charged with first-degree murder in connection with Lloyd’s death in June of 2013.
“People go ‘Why did Aaron Hernandez turn out?’ and I just think it’s a perfect cocktail of just it could have been anything,” Wetzel said. “It could be everything, it could be anything. It could be abusive childhood, struggling with who he was, the death of his father, going so far away to school, CTE, and just being near New England and near Bristol. Meeting Alexander Bradley. All the different things.”
Hear the full episode below and subscribe to the Yahoo Sports College Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher or your podcast app of choice.
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Nick Bromberg is a writer for Yahoo Sports.
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