AP photo / Mark Humphrey
New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft told a hand-picked group of reporters on Monday that, if murder allegations against former Pats tight end Aaron Hernandez are true, "our whole organization has been duped."
Kraft's comments were his first since Hernandez's arrest in the murder of Odin Lloyd. The Patriots owner had just returned from a trip to Europe, where he had been when Hernandez was arrested June 26.
He said the case of Hernandez, who slid to the fourth round of the 2010 NFL Draft because of character concerns, would have a lasting impact on the organization's player-acquisition philosophy.
"You can be sure we'll be looking at our procedures and auditing how we do things," according to ESPNBoston, which was one of three media outlets invited to the 40-minute session in Kraft's Foxboro office. The others were The Boston Globe and The Boston Herald.
Kraft said that he was limited in what he could say about the Hernandez case because of the ongoing criminal investigation. There is also the possibility that the Patriots could be a defendant in a civil suit by Lloyd's family.
But he did say that the team did not have reason to believe that Hernandez's off-the-field behavior was a concern during the three years that he was on the New England roster.
"When he was in our building, we never saw anything where he was not polite," Kraft said, according to the ESPN report. "He was always respectful to me. We only know what's going on inside the building. We don't put private eyes on people."
Kraft's comments were somewhat at odds with those of former Patriots tackle Matt Light, who last month told the Dayton Daily News that "I have never embraced -- never believed in -- anything Aaron Hernandez stood for."
Kraft also produced a copy of a letter that he said the team received from Hernandez prior to the 2010 Draft. In the letter, Hernandez admitted to past mistakes and addressed concerns raised by his past use of marijuana. He offered to undergo additional drug testing and to reimburse the team for any time missed due to a positive drug test while in the NFL.
"If you draft me as a member of the New England Patriots, I will willfully submit to a bi-weekly drug test throughout my rookie season (8 drug tests during the 2010 regular season)," Hernandez wrote to Patriots player personnel director Nick Caserio, according to a copy of the letter posted on The Globe's web site. "In addition, I will tie any guaranteed portion of my 2010 compensation to these drug tests and reimburse the team a pro-rata amount for any failed drug test. My agents have explained that a direct forfeiture provision in my contract along these lines would violate the CBA rules. However, I have instructed them to be creative in finding a contract structure that would work on in the worst case scenario, I would donate the pro-rata portion of any guaranteed money to the team's choice of charities. My point is simple -- if I fail a drug test, I do not deserve that portion of the money."