Bob Quinn publicly answered questions on Friday for the first time in months.
The Lions general manager hasn't talked with reporters since Matt Patricia's sex assualt allegations resurfaced before the season.
He was asked about them on Friday.
On when he knew about Head Coach Matt Patricia’s sexual assault allegation: “I first found out about it a couple days before the article came out. Matt got wind that the article was going to come out and he came and told me, so we had extensive conversations with myself, ownership, Rod (Wood) about everything and then we put out that statement back in May about our support for Matt, and that’s kind of how it went down.”
On if Head Coach Matt Patricia would still have been named head coach had he known about the sexual assault allegation before hiring him: “I’m not going to deal in hypotheticals. I didn’t know at the time and going forward, we’re just going to stand by our statement.”
On Head Coach Matt Patricia not acknowledging the sexual assault allegation during the interview process: “We do our standard—for a high-level position, we do an extensive background check on everybody and nothing came up, so that’s kind of how we go through those processes.”
On the sexual assault allegation not appearing on Head Coach Matt Patricia’s background check during the hiring process: “I’m not paid to do extensive background checks. I’m here to select the head coach and I’m very comfortable with Matt Patricia as our head coach.”
On the impact Head Coach Matt Patricia’s sexual assault allegation had on the locker room: “I don’t think it had any effect on the locker room. I think our players were very supportive of Matt after that happened and quickly we were into OTAs and we kind of moved on to football. So, I don’t think it did.”
On if there was any consideration of not hiring Head Coach Matt Patricia because of the sexual assault allegation: “After our conversations with Matt and Mrs. Ford (Martha Firestone Ford) and Rod (Wood), there was none.”
On if he thought there was need to do more research into the allegations of sexual assault on Head Coach Matt Patricia: “Yes, we did extensive research. I’m not getting into what we did, but we did extensive research externally as well and with our conversations with Matt. So, that’s where I’m going to leave it. I think I’ve covered that, we sent out a statement.”
Quotes provided by the Detroit Lions staff
