Google News Dana White: Ex-Raiders coach Jon Gruden rejected to sign Tom Brady, Rob Gronkowski
by | VIEW 554
UFC President Dana White said Tom Brady and Rob Gronkowski were interested in signing with the Las Vegas Raiders but the then Raiders head coach Jon Gruden said no. In the 2020 offseason, it was widely expected that Brady would leave the New England Patriots.
Shortly after Brady announced he was signing with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, it was announced that Gronkowski was coming out of retirement to join his good friend in Tampa. According to UFC president White, Brady and Gronkowski coming to Las Vegas was "almost a done deal" but then Gruden decided to keep Derek Carr over Brady.
"It was almost a done deal, and at the last minute, Gruden blew the deal up and said that he didn't want him, and all hell broke loose," White said. 'It was crazy. Brady was already looking at houses. 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 confirms White's story
"That is exactly what happened," Gronkowski said. In his first season in Tampa, Brady led the Buccaneers to a Suepr Bowl victory.
Brady had a secret motivation and he revealed that one teams decided to keep their quarterback over signing him. "One of the teams, they weren't interested at the very end," Brady said. "I was thinking, 'You're sticking with that motherf-----?'" Meanwhile, Brady won't be connecting with Gronkowski this year.
After coming out of retirement and playing for two years in Tampa, Gronkowski decided to retire again. In a lengthy retirement message, Gronkowski didn't mention his first team, the Patriots. After receiving criticism for not including the Patriots, Gronkowski explained that he felt he gave the Patriots all the credit when he retired the first time.
"I think it's a little blown out of proportion," Gronkowski told NESN. "I mean, I kind of did it when, you know, my first retirement. There's no doubt I love New England. I love all the fans here in New England. There's no doubt.
But I felt like that speech or whatever, the time and place I did for the first one was great, and I was just kind of giving it for that retirement for the two years I had in Tampa. But I think it was blown out of proportion maybe a little. But I love New England, love everything about it."
