Signing with the enemy
Watching DeSean Jackson, Jared Allen, and Darrelle Revis next year will be a strange sight. Each will be wearing a uniform of their former team enemy. It’s not without precedent. Here’s a look back at some of the biggest in NFL history.
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Geoff Burke/USA TODAY Sports
DeSean Jackson - Eagles/Redskins
DeSean Jackson could have taken his time on picking a team, maybe filling his Instagram account with photos from places such as San Francisco, Carolina and Oakland. All right, maybe not Oakland. But give Raiders fans credit, as #DJaxtoOakland nearly toppled Twitter. But in the end, Jackson chose to sign with the Redskins. A move, no doubt, motivated to show Chip Kelly just what he will be missing this season.
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Associated Press/NFL
Wes Welker - Broncos/Patriots
Welker didn't feel the love from the Patriot Way so he joined Peyton Manning and the Denver Broncos. Welker scored a victory when the Broncos beat the Patriots in the AFC Championship Game. But I have to believe Bill Belichick and Tom Brady chuckled and high-fived after the Seahawks snot-kicked the Broncos in the Super Bowl. Mainly, I just want to believe Belichick and Brady hung out together to watch the Super Bowl. Could you just imagine Gisele pulling Tom into the kitchen to whisper, "Seriously, he has to wear a sweat shirt into our home?"
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Charles Rex Arbogast/Associated Press
Jared Allen - Vikings/Bears
Jared Allen is your newest member of the Chicago Bears. A move that seemingly came out of nowhere since it seemed like Allen was going to join the defending Super Bowl champions, the Seattle Seahawks. But Allen instead will join the Monsters of the Midway. It will be strange for Allen to go from Vikings purple to the navy and orange of the Bears.
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Nam Y. Huh/Associated Press
Julius Peppers - Bears/Packers
When the Bears agreed to terms with Jared Allen, they were just responding to an opening volley in free agency this year when Julius Peppers signed with the Green Bay Packers who think he can be a big help on defense. Although, some could say Peppers already helped the Packers win when he couldn't corral Aaron Rodgers before the tossed the winning touchdown pass to Randall Cobb in the season finale. Some could say, not me necessarily.
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Frank Franklin II/Associated Press
Darrelle Revis - Jets/Patriots
Darrelle Revis has done seemingly the unthinkable (at least to most New York Jets fans) and joined the New England Patriots. This has to be the biggest nightmare for Jets fans. Well, until Revis intercepts a pass from Geno Smith. And really, just using the singular pass was very, very generous on my part.
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Associated Press
Marcus Allen - Raiders/Chiefs
Allen still remains to this day one of the most popular players in Raiders history. A Heisman Trophy-winning tailback at USC, Allen jumped immediately to the Los Angeles Raiders, who would win a Super Bowl in 1983. Yet, for reasons undisclosed, Allen fell out of favor with owner Al Davis and the relationship never thawed. Allen joined the Chiefs. Those Monday night games with Allen running wild on the field and Davis' steely gaze looking down were some of the most riveting NFL moments of the 1990s.
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Associated Press
Brett Favre - Packers/Vikings
This one is likely still fresh in our mind. Favre retired, returned and then retired again. And then there was something where he went to the Jets, got Eric Mangini fired and the team ended up with Mark Sanchez. Sorry, that part gets fuzzy. Favre did eventually sign up with the Vikings and the look of him in Minnesota was one of the most surreal of my football memory.
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Associated Press
Deion Sanders - Falcons/49ers/Cowboys
Sanders became one of the first mercenaries in current NFL free agency when he went from the Falcons to the NFC West-rival 49ers. After he led the 49ers to a Super Bowl title, Sanders then joined San Francisco's rival at the time, the Dallas Cowboys, and helped them to the Lombardi Trophy.
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Associated Press
Ken Norton, Jr. - Cowboys/49ers
Norton was a key cog in the middle of the Cowboys teams which won Super Bowl XXVII and Super Bowl XXVIII. Then he did the unthinkable when he joined the rival 49ers in the middle of this great feud. Norton's switch paid off immediately when the 49ers won Super Bowl XXIX. As an added twist, the UCLA alum then became a coaching assistant at USC before he followed Pete Carroll to Seattle.
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Associated Press
Adam Vinatieri - Colts/Patriots
When Vinatieri was unceremoniously dumped by the Patriots (notice a trend) one of the first things he wanted to do was stick it to his former team by joining Peyton Manning and the Indianapolis Colts. And it should be noted the Patriots haven't won a Super Bowl without him.
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Associated Press
Rod Woodson - Steelers/Ravens
There was a buffer between spots with a quick trip out to San Francisco. But Woodson did the unthinkable when one of the Steelers all-time greats jumped to the other side of this bitter blood feud. Even more sickening for Steelers fans, he helped the Ravens to a Super Bowl title in 2000.
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Associated Press
Bill Belichick - Jets/Patriots
Belichick was the hand-picked successor for the New York Jets when Bill Parcells stepped down after the 1999 season. Belichick was actually hired as the Jets coach, but in one of the strangest scenes in NFL history Belichick used his hiring press conference to announce his resignation. He then went on to the Patriots and, well, you know the rest.
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Associated Press
Curtis Martin - Patriots/Jets
Martin started his Hall of Fame career with the Patriots, but as a restricted free-agent in 1998, he signed a deal with the New York Jets to rejoin his former coach Bill Parcells. Just adding a further wrinkle to this rivalry.
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Associated Press
Thurman Thomas - Bills/ Dolphins
Thomas was one of the lynchpins in the high-powered Bills offense which won four AFC championships to kick off the 1990s. But when Thomas' run was over in Buffalo, he tried to keep the magic going for one more season in Miami in 2000.
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Associated Press
Lyle Alzado - Broncos/Raiders
All right, Alzado was traded from the Broncos to the Browns. And then it was Cleveland who traded him to the Raiders. So, it's not like he signed with them. But just to share a story from his first week with the Raiders, Alzado had trouble keeping his helmet on during practice as it kept popping off his head. As Alzado further mused, he felt it was some force in the universe which tried to keep a Raiders helmet off his head.
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Associated Press
Isaac Bruce - L.A. Rams/49ers
There aren't many indignities for fans of the Los Angeles Rams to suffer through, especially since the St. Louis version already won a Super Bowl. But the final gut-punch came when the very last of the Los Angeles Rams signed a deal with the San Francisco 49ers. That, friends, was too far.
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Amy Sancetta/Associated Press
Art Monk - Redskins/Eagles
Redskins fans wished Monk well when he left the team after the 1993 season and joined the Jets the following year. It's the business of football. A lot of those fans didn't quite understand when Monk joined the Eagles in 1995.
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Associated Press
Emmitt Smith - Cowboys/Cardinals
All right, all right, to see Smith go from the Cowboys to the Cardinals didn't jolt you as if, say, he went to the Redskins, Giants or Eagles. But still, this was a NFC East rival. What, you aren't buying this? Fair enough.
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Associated Press
Greg Jennings - Packers/Vikings
Following in the footsteps of his erstwhile gunslinger, Greg Jennings decided to make the trek across the border and leave behind the Frozen Tundra for the Metrodome. Green Bay fans will likely miss Jennings and his crazy commercials, but not as much as Jennings will miss Aaron Rodgers. He won't find it quite as easy to catch passes in bed when they're delivered from erratic arm of Christian Ponder.
