The family of Aaron Hernandez, the former New England Patriots tight end who committed suicide in jail in April, has dropped its lawsuit against the National Football League, but left open the possibility of refiling it in a different court.

Last month, lawyers for Hernandez’s family sued the N.F.L. in federal court in Boston, arguing that the league and the Patriots did not do enough to protect him from the dangers of concussions. The case was filed the same day that researchers at Boston University said an autopsy showed that Hernandez had an advanced form of chronic traumatic encephalopathy, a degenerative brain disease linked to repeated head hits.

In a filing Friday, lawyers for Hernandez’s daughter, Avielle, and her mother, Shayanna Jenkins Hernandez, said they had dismissed their case against the N.F.L. “without prejudice,” which allows them to refile it.

A lawyer for the Hernandez family told The Associated Press that he intended to refile the case in Suffolk County Superior Court in Massachusetts next week, and that state court would be a better venue for his case because it allowed more claims to be filed there than in federal court.