Robert Ayers Left Lions 1 Day into Contract in 2018 Because of Matt Patricia

Former NFL defensive end Robert Ayers signed a one-year contract with the Detroit Lions on Aug. 27, 2018. One day later, however, Ayers and the Lions parted ways.

There hasn't been much clarity as to why Ayers was in and out of Detroit in 24 hours, but he hinted that a disagreement with head coach Matt Patricia was the cause in a conversation with Aaron Torres of the Knoxville News Sentinel:

"Let's just say me and the head coach didn't agree. There were some things he wanted me to do that I didn't feel comfortable with. We just weren't on the same page and it didn't work out. He's a tremendous coach, a brilliant mind, there's a lot of things that was great about the Detroit Lions organization, but it was just something that we didn't agree on."

Ayers declined to provide more details on the disagreement with Patricia, who was in his first year with Detroit at the time.

"We can leave it at that," he said. "I'm not going to get into specifics on what we didn't agree on."

Ayers did tweet a few times soon after his release, notably commenting on a GIF that summed up his time in Detroit well:

The public may never find out what happened behind the scenes. Lions general manager Bob Quinn also declined to go into detail following the 2018 season, per Dave Birkett of the Detroit Free Press.

"I'm not going to get into the specifics of why he wasn't here, why he didn't make it here," Quinn said. "Different personnel decisions are different for each player, so I'm not really going to get into that one."

Birkett set the scene for Ayers' brief time in Detroit by reporting on some notable events during that time:

"Ayers took part in one practice, declined interview requests in the locker room after the workout, and despite sending a few social media posts that indicated he was looking forward to playing in Detroit, was nowhere to be found the next day.

"Lions general manager Bob Quinn spent an extended portion of the next day's practice on the phone, and after hanging up had a brief conversation with Patricia, who told reporters minutes before practice that he was anxious to see how Ayers fit his scheme."

Ayers never played another NFL down and retired last July. He is now an assistant football coach at Knoxville Catholic High School in Tennessee. Ayers played college ball for the University of Tennessee in Knoxville.

He took the field for the Denver Broncos, New York Giants and Tampa Bay Buccaneers from 2009 to 2017, registering 34.5 sacks. He had a career-high nine sacks for the 2015 Giants.