Patriots tight end Rob Gronkowski says he is returning for his ninth NFL season.
Gronkowski made the announcement in a post on Instagram Tuesday . Gronkowski said he met with coach Bill Belichick to inform him of his intention to
return
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and feel great."
Gronk previously hinted at considering retirement following New England's Super Bowl loss to the Eagles in February.
He appeared in 14 games during the 2017 season and led the team in receiving with 69 catches for 1,084 yards and eight touchdowns.
Gronkowski was knocked out of last season's AFC championship game with a concussion, but was able to return in time for the Super Bowl. He missed the
Patriots' 2017 Super Bowl win over Atlanta after undergoing back
surgery.
Detroit Lions coach Matt Patricia said Thursday he was "falsely accused" in a 1996 sexual assault allegation that resurfaced this week, and he
indicated that the matter has not been an issue as he has climbed from job to
job in the years since.
Patricia held a brief news conference one day after a Detroit News report that he and a friend were indicted 22 years ago by a Texas grand jury on one
count each of aggravated sexual assault. They were accused of assaulting a woman
on South Padre Island. The accuser did not testify and the case was
dismissed.
"I was innocent then, and I am innocent now," Patricia said.
The Lions said Wednesday night that a pre-employment background check did not turn up the incident. The team said Patricia was 21 at the time and on spring
break in Texas. The Lions said they were standing by Patricia.
An NFL spokesman said Thursday the league "will review the matter with the club to understand the allegations and what the club has learned."
Lions owner Martha Firestone Ford
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Thursday's news conference but did not speak.
"I'm here to defend my honor and clear my name. Twenty-two years ago, I was falsely accused of something very serious," Patricia said . "There were claims
made about me that never happened. While I'm thankful on one level that the
process worked, and the case was dismissed, at the same time, I was never given
the opportunity to defend myself."
Patricia took a few questions but did not provide details about the day in question.
"I was falsely accused of something that I did not do," he said.
The Detroit News
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(Texas) Herald, said Patricia and a friend were accused of entering the hotel
room where the woman was sleeping and sexually assaulting her. The men were
arrested later that night and released on bond, according to the story and court
records.
The indictment came that August, but the case was eventually dismissed. The Detroit News posted a motion to dismiss from January 1997, which said the
alleged victim did not feel she could "face the pressures or stress of a
trial."
Patricia's first NFL coaching job was as an assistant with the New England Patriots in 2004, and he remained with them through last season, when he was the
defensive coordinator. He was hired by the Lions in February to replace Jim
Caldwell.
Before joining the Patriots
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Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, his alma mater. That was before he spent two
years working as an aeronautical engineer. Patricia was an assistant coach at
Amherst and a graduate assistant at Syracuse before moving on to the NFL.
"I've interviewed for a lot of jobs," Patricia said. "Interviewing for jobs in engineering right after the situation happened, it was never an issue, it
never came up as anything, because it was dismissed, and I was
innocent
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I've been involved with."
Patriots coach Bill Belichick said the team wasn't aware of the legal case and expressed support for Patricia.
"For 14 years in our organization, Matt conducted himself with great integrity and is known to be an outstanding coach, person and family man,"
Belichick said in a statement. "We have always been confident in Matt's
character and recommended him highly to become the head coach of the Detroit
Lions."
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