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Sports Illustrated
Sports Illustrated
Entertainment
Michael Shapiro

Dana White Tried to Get Tom Brady to Sign With Raiders Before Retirement

Tom Brady announced his retirement last week, ending a 22-year career that featured seven Super Bowl rings. After dominant runs in both New England and Tampa, UFC president Dana White attempted to get Brady to join a third franchise before hanging up his cleats. 

“I was firing texts to [Brady] and he sent very cryptic text messages,” White told TMZ. “He had me thinking he wasn't going to retire. So, you know what I was doing? I was hammering him to come to Vegas and play for the Raiders.”

White previously had pitched Brady on the Raiders in 2020.

White was unsuccessful in his attempt to bring Brady to the desert, and frankly, the endeavor may be a bit of a slap in the face to the current Las Vegas quarterback. Derek Carr led the Raiders to the postseason in 2021 as he threw for 4,804 yards, and he's thrown 193 touchdowns in 127 starts since 2014.

The Raiders lost the the Bengals in the wild-card round as the franchise continued a 19-year drought without a playoff win. As for Brady, he retires as the NFL’s all-time leader in completions (7,263), touchdowns (624), passing yards (84,520).

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