Darren Waller Details How Close Tom Brady Came to Signing With Raiders

The legendary QB apparently almost ended up in Las Vegas.

Raiders tight end Darren Waller addressed the uncertainty surrounding the quarterback position ahead of the 2023 season. With Las Vegas moving on from Derek Carr, big changes are on the way for the franchise.

Waller touched on the Raiders’ quarterback position during an interview with Jeff Fedotin of Forbes, and he revisited the old rumors linking Tom Brady to Las Vegas back when it was clear he was not planning to return to the Patriots in 2020. According to the Raiders tight end, he was convinced Brady was coming to town.

“I’ve heard it from multiple sources that I respect and I’ve been close to,” Waller said via Forbes. “They’re like, ‘Yeah, Brady to the Raiders was a lock.’”

Obviously, Brady instead ended up joining the Buccaneers, with whom he won a Super Bowl and made three playoff appearances before announcing his retirement. But it seems that the rumors linking the legendary quarterback to Las Vegas may have had some substance behind them. The Raiders ended up sticking with Carr, whose tenure with the team ended last week.

In August, UFC president Dana White claimed that a 2020 deal to bring Brady to Las Vegas was nixed at the last minute by then-Raiders coach Jon Gruden. Gruden and the organization parted ways midway through the following season.

Waller seemed to be among the crowd convinced Brady was en route to the Raiders, though that never ended up coming to fruition. Still, it seems that the long-rumored Brady deal was quite possibly on the table in 2020.