Jerry Rice Admits to Cheating but Still Wants an Asterisk on the Patriots for Deflategate

Jerry Rice admitted to cheating to make it easier to catch the football. AP

By Jack Andrade

February 6, 2015

1 minute to read

Jerry Rice may not know that old adage cautioning people in glass houses about throwing stones. The Hall of Fame wide receiver, owner of just about every major NFL receiving record, joined those criticizing the Patriots over Deflategate not long after an admission of his own rule breaking became public.

As ProFootballTalk pointed out on Friday, Rice admitted during an interview with ESPN that he using an illegal adhesive spray on his gloves to get a better grip catching the football.

“I know this might be a little illegal, guys, but you put a little spray, a little stickum on them, to make sure that texture is a little sticky,’’ Rice told ESPN in a video published on Jan. 17

Rice’s admission came in an ESPN feature on the evolution of gloves in the NFL. That video ran five days before Rice appeared on The Jim Rome Show and argued that the Patriots deserved an asterisk attached to their 2014 season for Deflategate.

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Even with details around Deflategate remaining scant after the Patriots’ Super Bowl XLIX win, Rice still seemed to be fixated on the scandal, tweeting about it Friday. He later deleted the tweet without explanation.

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Rice won three Super Bowls in his career with the 49ers and retired as the NFL’s all-time leader in receptions, receiving yards, and touchdowns. There are no asterisks on any of his achievements.