Dana White: Brady and Gronk to Raiders was 'almost a done deal' originally appeared on NBC Sports Boston
UFC president Dana White dropped a bombshell involving Tom Brady and Rob Gronkowski during the first-ever "GronkCast" on Saturday.
White revealed the ex-New England Patriots stars nearly joined the Las Vegas Raiders before signing with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 2020. In fact, the deal would have gotten done had it not been for then-Raiders head coach Jon Gruden.
“I worked to put that deal together for Brady and Gronk to come to the Raiders,” White said during "UFC 278 with the Gronks." “And it was almost a done deal. And at the last minute, Gruden blew the deal up and said that he didn’t want [Brady]. And all hell broke loose, man.
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"It was crazy and Brady was already looking at houses, and it wasn’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.”
Gronkowski corroborated White's version of events.
“That’s exactly what happened,” Gronk said, “and you just told the story.”
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So, does that confirm Derek Carr as the quarterback Brady was referring to in his infamous "The Shop" clip? The Miami Dolphins and Los Angeles Chargers were also among teams interested in the seven-time Super Bowl champion, but White's story seems to line up with Brady's memorable quote.
"One of the teams, they weren’t interested at the very end. I was thinking, you’re sticking with that motherf-----?" Brady says in the clip.
Of course, it all worked out just fine for Brady and Gronkowski in the end. In their first season with Tampa Bay, the duo led the Bucs to their first Super Bowl title since 2003.
“I’m glad it did not go through,” Gronkowski told White. “It all worked out for the best, man. I’m glad we went to Tampa, man. It just worked out. I love that place.”
Still, we can't help but wonder how the Raiders' offense would have looked with both Brady and Gronk in the fold.
