"Some truth to this amid the exaggeration" - NFL insider reveals real reason why former Raiders HC Jon Gruden pulled the plug on Tom Brady deal

Former Las Vegas Raiders head coach Jon Gruden
Former Las Vegas Raiders head coach Jon Gruden

The Athletic NFL insider Vic Tafur claimed that there is some truth to the buzz about the Las Vegas Raiders almost signing Tom Brady and Rob Gronkowski.

This has been huge news on Sunday morning after the revelation was made on Rob Gronkowski's new alternate broadcast of UFC 278.

Dana White told 'Gronk' and his brothers, who were hosting the show, that it was "almost a done deal" and that Brady and Gronkowski would have been playing out west instead of in Tampa Bay.

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White said that at the last minute, then-Las Vegas Raiders head coach Jon Gruden 'blew the deal up'. 'Gronk' said that he was glad the deal didn't come to fruition and that they ended up playing in Tampa Bay because he loves the city and the team.

“I worked to put that deal together for Brady and Gronk to come to the Raiders, and it was almost a done deal. At the last minute, Gruden blew the deal up and said he didn’t want Brady. 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.”

Vic Tafur, who covers the Las Vegas Raiders, tweeted on Saturday evening that while some of what White said is an exaggeration, there is some truth to the story. Tafur said that, at the time, he wrote a story that Las Vegas did have an interest in acquiring both players.

He too claimed that Jon Gruden did indeed 'blow the deal up' because he didn't want to pay a quarterback of Brady's age a lot of money.

Little did Jon Gruden know that he would essentially be sending the future Hall of Fame duo to his former team, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Adding to the pain, they went on to win the Super Bowl that season.

Also Checkout:- Raiders Preseason Schedule


Was Tom Brady actually considering the Raiders?

Last year, Tom Brady said that there was a team that was no longer interested in him. He even used explicitives to describe his reaction to the unknown team choosing another quarterback over him.

Now, it seems clear that Derek Carr was the quarterback he was speaking about.

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In the same clip, Tom Brady says that while it aggravated him, there wasn't actually a chance that he would consider playing for that team anyway. So, even if Jon Gruden hadn't decided to end the negotiations, Brady and Gronkowski may not have been a slam dunk signing after all.

“One of the teams, they were interested and then, all of a sudden, they weren’t interested at the very end. I was sitting there thinking, ‘You’re sticking with that motherf-----?’ Are you serious?”

Dana White claims that Brady was looking for houses in the Las Vegas area, but as Vic Tafur said, some of what he said was a bit of an exaggeration.

Raiders Nation! Check out the latest Las Vegas Raiders Schedule and dive into the Raiders Depth Chart for NFL Season 2024-25.

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Edited by Nicolaas Ackermann
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