Dana White revealed that Tom Brady and Rob Gronkowski had a plan to join the Las Vegas Raiders in 2020, but the deal fell through because of the team’s former head coach, Jon Gruden. White detailed the situation during UFC 278 With The Gronks on ESPN+, Saturday night.
“I worked to put that deal together for Brady and Gronk to come to the Raiders,” White claimed on the show. “And it was almost a done deal, and at the last minute, Gruden blew the deal up and said that he didn’t want them, and all hell broke loose, man. It was crazy, and Brady was already looking at houses, and it wans’t being said yet that Gronk was coming. So Las Vegas would have had Brady and Gronk the year that the Bucs won the Super Bowl, except Gruden blew the deal up.”
Douglas P. DeFelice / Getty Images
He added that he said he was never going to tell that story, to which Gronkowski said that this was “exactly what happened and you told the story.”
Brady and Gronkowski ended up leading the Tampa Bay Buccaneers to a Super Bowl victory, while the Raiders stuck with Derek Carr and eventually moved on from Gruden after his racist, misogynistic, and homophobic emails were made public in 2021.
The Raiders are in good shape heading into the 2022 regular season, having added Davante Adams to an already talented offense that boasts Hunter Renfrow, Darren Waller, Josh Jacobs, and more.
While Brady remains on the Bucs, Gronk announced his retirement from the NFL, earlier this year.
Check out White’s recollection of the story below.
[Via]