UFC president Dana White claimed Saturday that he helped put a deal in place to bring Tom Brady and Rob Gronkowski to the Las Vegas Raiders in 2020, but then-Raiders coach Jon Gruden “blew the deal up.”
On “UFC 278 with the Gronks,” Gronkowski said that White gave Brady a recruiting pitch when he was a free agent, and he asked White “what went wrong” and why Brady didn’t sign with Vegas.
“Do I really tell this story right now, Rob? Do you want me to tell this story?” White asked.
Gronkowski said he did, then added: “You never know, I could have been in Vegas with you the last three years man, what the heck?”
“You would have been!” White said. Gronkowski echoed: “I would have been.”
“I worked to put that deal together for Brady and Gronk to come to the Raiders,” White said. “It was almost a done deal. At the last minute Gruden blew the deal up and said that he didn’t want them.
“All hell broke loose man, it was crazy. 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 the Bucs won the Super Bowl except Gruden blew the deal up. There’s so much story that goes along with this behind the scenes … I was never going to tell that story until Gronk just said it.”
Gronkowski said White’s story is “exactly what happened.”
The Raiders did not respond to USA TODAY Sports’ request for comment on the matter.
Gruden and then-Raiders general manager Mike Mayock oversaw all personnel decisions for the team at the time. White is not connected to the Raiders in any official capacity. But Brady was discussing his future for some time, a revelation that came to light recently when the Miami Dolphins were punished by the NFL for tampering with Brady in 2019 while he was still a member of the New England Patriots.
Brady is entering his third season with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, who he ultimately signed with in 2020 after a 20-year run with the Patriots. Gronkowski ended his retirement after one season to join Brady and the duo helped the Buccaneers win Super Bowl 55, their fourth ring together and Brady’s seventh overall. Gronkowski announced his retirement again in June. Brady is currently away from the Buccaneers attending an undisclosed personal matter.
Gruden resigned from the Raiders last October after the revelation of his use of homophobic and misogynistic language in a series of emails over the course of seven years.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Tom Brady, Rob Gronkowski almost signed with Raiders, Dana White says