Raiders Insider Sheds Light On Wild Tom Brady, Rob Gronkowski Story

Were Tom Brady and Rob Gronkowski really that close to becoming Raiders in 2020?

During Gronk’s simulcast of the Leon Edwards-Kamaru Usman card last night, UFC president Dana White claimed that a package sending Gronk and Brady to Vegas was all but a done deal until Jon Gruden nixed the whole thing.

On the broadcast, Rob Gronkowski confirmed Dana White’s account by declaring, “that’s exactly what happened.”

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Dana White just told the Gronks that he had a deal done for Tom Brady and Rob Gronkowski to become Raiders and Gruden “Blew the deal up”

“Tom was looking for houses and everything” 👀👀👀 pic.twitter.com/JI73ivoAoK

— Pat McAfee (@PatMcAfeeShow) August 21, 2022

Late last night, The Athletic’s Vic Tafur admitted that there was a lot of truth to Dana White’s story, but also some exaggeration.

“There is some truth to this amid the exaggeration. I wrote then about the Raiders’ interest, and Gruden ultimately did decide he didn’t want to pay an aging Brady all that money,” Tafur tweeted out.

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There is some truth to this amid the exaggeration.
I wrote then about the Raiders’ interest, and Gruden ultimately did decide he didn’t want to pay an aging Brady all that money. https://t.co/jcRXsaCST1

— Vic Tafur (@VicTafur) August 21, 2022

Back in 2020, there was some buzz that the Raiders were looking for an upgrade over Derek Carr. But ultimately, the consensus was that he earned a third year in Gruden’s system.

“We love our QB,” Gruden said at that time. “Out QB is a really good player, Derek Carr. I want to reiterate that to everybody in Vegas. We’ve got a good, young, QB, and the film, statistics and analytics prove it.”

Obviously, Rob Gronkowski and Tom Brady would end up going to Tampa Bay and winning the Super Bowl in their first year with the Bucs. With Carr under center that same season, the Raiders remained stuck in mediocrity, finishing the season 8-8 and missing out on the playoffs.

Of course all Raiders fans will hate to hear how close they were to landing TB12 and Gronkowski, but Derek Carr still remains a top of the line starter in the league heading into this season.

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