Tom Brady — Tampa Bay Buccaneers
This is going to take some getting used to. After two decades and six Super Bowl victories, Tom Brady will be putting on a different uniform for the first time in his career. Brady has been a mainstay within the Boston sports scene for 20 years. Several players in April’s draft hadn’t even celebrated their first birthday when Brady’s was selected by New England back in 2000. Now, Brady moves on to Tampa as he attempts to claim his seventh title — and first without Hall of Fame coach Bill Belichick.
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James Harrison — Cincinnati Bengals
To this day, Harrison’s 100-yard interception return touchdown in Super Bowl XLIII is the longest play from scrimmage in Super Bowl history. It ultimately helped the Steelers capture their sixth championship. Harrison’s popularity in Pittsburgh made it even more odd that he was so willing to join a division rival at the tail-end of his career. Harrison wound up playing one season in Cincinnati, but realized the error in his ways as he returned to Pittsburgh a year later.
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Donovan McNabb — Minnesota Vikings
A devastating playoff loss to the Dallas Cowboys in 2009 pushed coach Andy Reid to make a change at QB. He opted to name Kevin Kolb as the starter over Donovan McNabb moving forward. McNabb was traded to Washington, and actually ended up beating the Eagles in the team’s first matchup that season.
McNabb’s time with the Eagles division rival was quickly ended when the Redskins traded him to the Minnesota Vikings for a sixth-round pick (which later became RB Alfred Morris). Purple clearly wasn’t McNabb’s color, as he played just six games for the Vikes before being unseated at the starting spot for rookie Christian Ponder.
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Devin Hester — Seattle Seahawks
By the end of his Chicago tenure, Hester had lost the big-play ability which made him so prolific. He scored just one return touchdown over his final two years. Hester made his way to Atlanta — where he found more success as a receiving threat. He also played 12 games for the Baltimore Ravens during the 2016 season. In a surprise move right before the playoffs, the Seattle Seahawks signed Hester to be their primary return man. The final return of his career went for 78 yards on a kickoff (and he also had a 79-yard punt return called back for holding earlier in the game).
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Champ Bailey — New Orleans Saints
The former 12-time Pro Bowler and three-time All-Pro spent five years in Washington before enjoying a decade of dominance as a member of the Denver Broncos. Bailey was one of the game’s best corners for just about the entirety of his career. However, injuries towards the end of his run in Denver massively debilitated him. It was jarring to see him in a Saints uniform, especially as he was cut from the team before the regular season even began.
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Jerome Bettis — Los Angeles Rams (and Marshall Faulk, the Indianapolis Colts)
Two-for-one special as a Steeler great and a Ram great feature on their previous teams. Bettis played for the Los Angeles Rams for two years (and St. Louis for one) before becoming an NFL superstar during his time in Pittsburgh. Faulk spent a bit more time with his original team — five years with the Colts — but all three of his All-Pro nods and MVP trophy came during his time with the Greatest Show on Turf. Two of the game’s top running backs rocking throwback threads of their former teams is truly surreal.
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Anquan Boldin — Buffalo Bills
Though Larry Fitzgerald rightfully gets a ton of praise, let’s not forget about Arizona’s other star wideout of the 2000’s, Anquan Boldin. Boldin played in Arizona for seven years. During this time, he recorded 586 receptions and 44 touchdowns for the Cards. Boldin then had a nice run with the Baltimore Ravens, and was a member of the Super Bowl winning squad in 2012. One of his lesser known stops was with the Buffalo Bills in 2017. He played one preseason game with the club — catching one pass for five yards — before calling his career quits two weeks after signing with the team.
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Tim Brown — Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Brown’s 16-year run as a Raider matches up with the franchise’s all-time greats. One of the top receivers of his era, Brown played 240 games for the Silver and Black. He accrued 1,070 receptions, 14,734 yards, and 99 touchdowns. Following the 2003 season, Brown was released after he expressed his unwillingness to accept a smaller role within the offense. He was quickly scooped up by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers — coached by former Raider head coach Jon Gruden — and ended up scoring his 100th career touchdown in his lone matchup against the Raiders. Still, seeing him in anything other than Raider gear is simply strange.
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Reggie Bush — Buffalo Bills
Coming out of college, Bush was expected to take over the league and become one of the top offensive threats. While he had his moments during the early parts of his career, it became abundantly clear he wasn’t going to develop into the league’s absolute top back. He bounced around a bit during his prime, starting off with the Saints before having successful years with the Lions and Dolphins as well. A stop he would likely prefer to forget about was his one-year run in Buffalo. As a Bills player in 2016, Bush became the first ever player to record negative total rushing yards (minus-3) with at least 10 carries on the season.
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Earl Campbell — New Orleans Saints
Campbell is arguably the most dominant Houston Oilers player in the franchise’s history. He quickly emerged as one of the top backs in the league early on. In six years, Campbell scored 69 times for the Oilers while gashing opposing defenses to the tune of 8,296 rushing yards. The freight train of a running back was a three-time All-Pro in Houston. Despite that, Campbell had grown tired of losing and demanded a trade. The New Orleans Saints traded a first-round pick (!) for a 30-year-old (!!) Campbell in 1985. They received a shell of the former league MVP. Campbell played in all 16 games for New Orleans that season, and was only able to muster up 643 yards on the year.
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Cris Carter — Miami Dolphins
Carter began his career as a fourth-round pick by the Philadelphia Eagles. However, he made his biggest impact during a 12-year run in Minneapolis. As a member of the Vikings, Carter emerged as an elite wideout who many consider to be a top-10 WR of all-time. While that is up for debate, what isn’t debatable is Carter’s immense production in Minnesota. As a Viking, Carter recorded 1,004 receptions, 12,383 yards, and 78 touchdowns while also serving as a mentor and leader for the great Randy Moss.
Following a career-worst season in 2001, Carter opted out of his contract with the Vikings. Carter eventually signed with the Dolphins during the middle of the following year. He played in five games and caught eight passes. Going from the Vikings purple to the Dolphins teal is certainly one of the most drastic color changes in the league.
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Mike Ditka — Philadelphia Eagles
It has become increasingly difficult to separate Ditka from the Chicago Bears. That’s typically what happens when you win a Super Bowl with a particular team as both a player and a coach. Ditka was the starting tight end on Chicago’s Super Bowl VI team that toppled the Miami Dolphins, and also famously coached the 1985 Chicago Bears who throttled the New England Patriots in Super Bowl XX. However, Ditka did play for two other teams during his playing career — one of which were the Philadelphia Eagles. Those were two of the worst season’s of Ditka’s career as he caught just 39 passes (with four touchdowns) over a 20-game span.
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Brett Favre — Minnesota Vikings
Brett Favre belongs in green. That’s probably why Brett Favre the New York Jet didn’t make this list. At least the Jets uniforms reminded us of Favre’s electric time as QB of the Green Bay Packers. He also graced the cover of Madden NFL 09Â in New York’s green and white.
But, Brett Favre the Minnesota Viking? Just plain weird. Favre played two years with one of Green Bay’s most bitter rivals — one good season and another not-so-good one. Favre was an overtime loss away from leading the Vikes to their first Super Bowl appearance ever. Even then, we still couldn’t get used to him wearing purple and yellow.
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Zach Thomas — Dallas Cowboys
Plenty of stars nearing the end of their careers signed with the Cowboys for one last hurrah. Guys like Randall Cunningham, Mike Ditka, Harold Carmichael and Eddie George all donned the Cowboys’ star before calling it quits. Thomas might have had the least memorable run out of the bunch.
The Pro Bowl linebacker was a fan favorite in Miami for his hard-hitting and aggressive style. After 12 years with the Dolphins, Thomas signed a one-year deal with the Cowboys. Hardly anybody remembers his contributions during that season.
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Deion Sanders — Washington Redskins
Sanders didn’t shy away from switching teams several times during his playing career. After starting out with the Falcons, “Prime Time” wound up signing a one-year deal with the 49ers before locking down a massive long-term payday with the Dallas Cowboys. The Cowboys would up cutting the brash corner after the 1999 season, and Sanders signed on with the Redskins to play the 2000 season. He retired after the year ended.
Even Sanders himself felt his lone season in Washington was an unworthy send-off, as he returned to the game of football four years later. He played for the Baltimore Ravens in 2004 and 2005, wearing No. 37 (instead of his usual 21) to represent his age at the time of his return.
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Randy Moss — Tennessee Titans
For a guy many consider as a top-two receiver of all time, Moss sure did bounce around the league quite a bit. He famously fell to the 21st pick in 1998 NFL Draft due to off-the-field concerns, and proceeded to set the all-time rookie mark for touchdowns (17) in his first year. After seven years in Minnesota, Oakland’s Al Davis went out and grabbed the freakish wideout for the following two years. He was then traded to New England where he helped the Patriots start the season 18-0 (before losing Super Bowl XLII to the New York Giants). Moss broke the all-time mark for touchdowns in a season with 23.
After 2009, Moss then went on a tour of the teams around the league which included another stop in Minnesota, and a run with the 49ers during the 2012 Super Bowl season. The stint that gets lost in the shuffle is Moss’ explosive half-season run with the Titans. In eight games, Moss tallied a whopping six catches for 80 yards and zero touchdowns. A washed Moss in powder blue Titans jerseys is a sad sight.
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Andre Johnson — Tennessee Titans
The Titans seem to have a monopoly on former All-Pro receivers facing the twilights of their careers. Johnson is a legend in Houston. As an expansion team in 2002, the Texans flat-out stunk for the better part of a decade. Houston finished dead-last in its division five of the first six years, and didn’t win an AFC South crown until 2011. On most weeks, Johnson’s dominant play at receiver was the only thing Texans fans had to cheer about.
However, Johnson may have angered some of his fans when he signed with the rival Tennessee Titans in 2016. Luckily for Houston (and unfortunately for Johnson), the former All-Pro was a shell of his former self by that point. Johnson caught nine passes in only eight appearances for Tennessee.
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Joe Montana — Kansas City Chiefs
Montana played in four Super Bowls with the San Francisco 49ers. He won all of those games. He’s a two-time league MVP, led the league in touchdowns twice, made eight Pro Bowls and is undoubtedly considered one of the five all-time greats at the position. All of that is to say it was incredibly weird to see Montana wearing a Chiefs jersey during the final two seasons of his career.
Montana was still a fairly productive player during his time in KC. He led the Chiefs to consecutive playoff berths in ’93 and ’94. At one point, Montana was on track to face his former team in Super Bowl XXVIII, but both the Chiefs and 49ers lost in their respective conference championship matchups. Still, Montana had accomplished so much during his time in San Francisco that sports media has almost wiped away his time in Kansas City completely.
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Nick Foles — Los Angeles Rams
Before becoming the most popular man in Philadelphia, Foles was battling for a starting spot in St. Louis. It didn’t work out like Foles originally intended, as coach Jeff Fisher opted to start Case Keenum over the former Pro Bowler. Foles eventually requested his release, and the team granted his request by cutting him prior to the next season. The video of Fisher calling Foles to inform the QB of his release was shown on HBO’s Hard Knocks.
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Joe Namath — Los Angeles Rams
From a purely statistical standpoint, Namath is one of the most overrated QB’s ever. He threw 50 more interceptions than he did touchdowns over his career. However, Namath’s numbers don’t tell the whole story. His confidence and poise under pressure defined him as a player. He was immortalized forever when he guaranteed a victory in Super Bowl III (and his Jets delivered by beating the Baltimore Colts 16-7).
Pictures of Namath in the classic Jets uniforms are still found all over the internet today, which makes seeing him in any other jersey quite eye-popping. This photo of Namath in a Rams uniform nearly looks altered in some way.
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Ed Reed — Houston Texans
Two uniforms greatly define Ed Reed’s tremendous legacy — the orange and green of the Miami Hurricanes and the classic purple of the Baltimore Ravens. Reed could have simply called it a career after his time in Baltimore was over. He would have likely been a first-ballot Hall of Famer either way. However, Reed loved the game far too much to give up on it that early. He split his final season playing seven games each for the Texans and the Jets.
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Jerry Rice — Seattle Seahawks
Most can recall Rice’s three-year run with the Raiders following a 16-year tenure with the San Francisco 49ers. His run with the Raiders was memorable because Oakland was one of the top teams at the time, and Rice was still a great player during his days there. He joined the Raiders at 39 years old, and compiled back-to-back 1,000-yard seasons in his first two years with the silver and black.
By the time Rice had made it to Seattle, the 42-year-old had finally started showing signs of slowing down. Rice went from catching passes from Steve Young and Joe Montana to Matt Hasselbeck and Trent Dilfer. He retired after the 2003 season.
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Emmitt Smith — Arizona Cardinals
The league’s all-time leading rusher ran for 93-percent of his record-breaking 18,355 rushing yards whilst as a member of the Dallas Cowboys. Though he set the record during his last season in Dallas, Smith felt it necessary to keep adding to his total. He signed a deal with the Arizona Cardinals in 2002. Smith played two injury-plagued years in Arizona, and signed a one-deal contract with Dallas in 2005 to retire as a Cowboy.
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Steve Young — Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Young is best remembered for taking over as the 49ers quarterback following the departure of Joe Montana. He led the club to an additional two Super Bowl victories. Almost nobody can recall Young’s time with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. It was the first team he joined after leaving the USFL. During that bleak season in Tampa, the Bucs went 3-16 with Young as their starter.
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Kurt Warner — New York Giants
Even to this day, NFL teams like to bring in savvy veterans who can challenge rookie QB’s, and soak up a few early starts as the team attempts to rebuild. Warner was brought in for this role on the Giants as they attempted to groom a rookie Eli Manning. Warner’s time in New York was brief, and has seemingly been lost in the clutter of two memorable and successful stops in St. Louis and Arizona, respectively.
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