Ian Rapoport is widely known as one of the preeminent news breakers in the NFL, but before his national fame, he was the Alabama beat writer for AL.com and the Patriots beat writer for the Boston Herald. As part of a panel on SI’s The MMQB, Rapoport shared one of the strangest stories from his time in Boston: the time Aaron Hernandez may have joked about killing him.

In the piece, which is worth the read, Rapoport said that one particular incident with Hernandez gave him an uneasy feeling.

“When we first exchanged numbers, he called me over and said, ‘Hey I just want you to know, you’re my guy. If you need anything let me know, I will help you out if I can. But I just want you to know, if you f— me over, I’ll kill you.’ I sort of laughed a little bit, and I said, ‘Don’t worry, I got you, I’ll take care of you.’ It was me and this other reporter from CBS Sports, William Bendetson, and he was standing there and had listened and we kind of turned to each other and both laughed. And then the first text I got after it became clear that Hernandez was the suspect in the murder investigation was from William Bendetson, who was like, Hey remember that day in the locker room?”

The public will never know how serious Hernandez’s threat really was, as he may have just had a deadpan sense of humor, but the incident clearly stuck out to Rapoport. There is plenty of evidence, however, that crossing Hernandez was a bad idea.

Hernandez was soon cut by the Patriots after he was arrested on a murder charge in 2013. In 2015, he was convicted of murdering Odin Lloyd, and he was sentenced to life in prison.

Prior to hanging himself in prison, Hernandez was acquitted on double murder charges in a non-related incident.