Best thing for the team and the organization. They take a huge salary cap hit, but they will treat it like a career ending injury and be done with it and move ahead.
I am a Patriots fan, and while I very much appreciated Hernandez as a talented athlete, I didn't like his attitude from the beginning. He was a trash-talking, show-boating punk, and I detest that in athletics. Not to say other players don't do it (they do) but there was something about the player that irritated me when he did it. This picture is an example:
It was a nice, heads-up play and good athletic move, but as he danced down the sideline just ahead of the defensive player, he was showboating and trash talking before he even got to the endzone. Now, it is a cool picture and a good play, but...I hate this stuff.
The defensive player took exception, and while I know defensive backs have to have a thicker skin, I understood the response completely. To be honest, I understood completely why the Patriots signed Gronkowski the way they did, I did not understand the Hernandez signing. Gronk will be fine, but Hernandez has shown himself to be injury prone (in a way different from Gronkowski...a broken bone or a nasty ankle bent sideways is obvious)
I know Hernandez is not proven guilty, yet. But I am glad to see the Patriots cut ties with him as speedily as they did once he was formally charged.