The timing couldn’t have been more perfect.
The NFL brought its 254 newly drafted players to Ohio last week for the Rookie Symposium, and there was Aaron Hernandez, arrested and charged with murder on live national television on Wednesday, serving as a glaring example of how a bad decision can ruin a promising NFL career in an instant.
But Troy Vincent, the former 15-year cornerback and now the NFL’s senior vice president of player engagement, didn’t have to change the week’s agenda much.
The symposium didn’t morph into, “Don’t do what Aaron Hernandez did.”
“This case speaks for itself,” Vincent said by telephone. “I literally have to spend no time on it. Our focus has been about one thing — giving these young men hope.” Full story for BostonGlobe.com subscribers.
Ben Volin can be reached at ben.volin@globe.com. Follow him on Twitter @BenVolin. Material from interviews, wire services, other beat writers, and league and team sources was used in this report.
