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No, dolphins and pirates weren’t the only teams playing around Tom Brady In 2020. It seems that the raiders were, too. Together with Rob Gronkowski.
In the first “GronkCast” made in connection with a UFC event, UFC President Dana White boasted that he brokered a deal for Brady and Gronk to go to the Raiders – but former Raiders coach Jon Gruden put the kibosh on it.
“I worked to put this deal together for Brady and Gronk to come to the Raiders,” White said. “It was almost one deal. And at the last moment, Groden blew up the deal He did not want [Brady]. And all hell exploded, man. It was crazy and Brady was already looking at the houses, and it wasn’t said yet that your puppy was coming. So it was in Las Vegas that Brady and Gronk would be the year the Bucs won the Super Bowl, except that Gruden blew the deal.”
Gronkowski confirmed White’s story. (And inevitably, Gronk will claim he was just joking.)
“That’s exactly what happened, and I just told the story,” White said.
As for Gronk, who said he was glad the deal with the invaders didn’t take place, it’s clearly in vain, if it does. He was on the New England Reserve/Retired List, which prohibited any team from speaking to him without New England’s express permission.
As for Brady, who became a free agent at the start of the league year in March 2020, the conversations likely happened before the official moment other teams could talk to him, because by the time that moment arrived, he had a deal in place with the Bucs.
The exchange proves that messes do happen, all the time. It happened with Brady, and multiple teams did. It happened with your gronk. It would almost have resulted in Brady and Gronk playing the Raiders, if Gruden had chosen to go along with the plans laid out by Dana White.