In an appearance on HBO's "The Shop: Uninterrupted" last summer, Tom Brady revealed that there was a team that stopped pursuing him during his 2020 free agency that prompted him to react by saying, "You're sticking with that mother******?"
Speculation began immediately about which fellow quarterback Brady may have been referring to. Jimmy Garoppolo out in San Francisco was many people's assumption, as Brady wanting to play for his hometown 49ers would've made sense. Ryan Tannehill was an obvious possibility as well, as playing for friend and former teammate Mike Vrabel in Tennessee may have been appealing to Brady.
As it turns out, it may not have been either of them. Rob Gronkowski and UFC president Dana White seemed to have spilled the beans once and for all Saturday night during the "UFC 278 with the Gronks" broadcast.
Gronk revealed that White had led a recruiting pitch to bring Brady -- and Gronk along with him -- to the Las Vegas Raiders, White's adopted hometown team.
After initially hesitating to tell the story, White indulged Gronk and shared more details.
"I worked to put that deal together for Brady and Gronk to come to the Raiders," White said. "It was almost a done deal, and at the last minute [Jon] Gruden blew the deal up and said that he didn't want him, and all hell broke loose. It was crazy. Brady was already looking at houses. ... So, Las Vegas would've had Brady and Gronk the year that the Bucs won the Super Bowl, except that Gruden blew the deal up."
So, Jon Gruden -- who resigned last October after a series of offensive emails he had sent were uncovered -- decided to stick with Derek Carr and not sign Brady. That is certainly a highly questionable decision, and one that easily could've prompted Brady's "that MFer" response.
Brady and Gronk, of course, ultimately signed with Tampa Bay instead and went on to lead the Buccaneers to the Super Bowl that season. Oddly enough, it's not the first time that a critical Gruden decision hurt the Raiders and helped the Bucs -- back in 2002, Gruden left the Raiders to take the Bucs' head coaching job and proceeded to beat his old team in the Super Bowl the following season.
The Raiders are still rolling with Carr at quarterback, now with Brady's longtime offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels coaching him.
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