Freaky Friday of Football
We all know the movie “Freaky Friday.” Can you imagine waking up and having to adapt to a completely new life, especially if you were put in the place of your greatest competition? Swapping roles with another person seems like it can only exist in a fun fictional film. However, in the NFL, trading players is as close as it gets to the movie magic. Trades are when teams exchange one athlete for another. With some trades being finalized overnight, players really do wake up, only to discover they must take on a whole new role with a team that they may have been competing against the night before.
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NFL teams analyze contracts, finances, and stats to come up with the best deals for their business. But while executives work behind the scenes, some players are not told in advance that they are in the talks of being switched. This shocks fans and athletes alike, as they may find out about a trade at any time or place. The 2026 NFL season officially kicked off in September and until the deadline to trade on Nov. 10, players are at risk of leaving behind their familiar city, coaches, teammates, and playbooks to join a new team.
As football fans wait to see what the rest of this year has in store, here are some of the wildest ways from past seasons that players found out their whole life was about to change.
UFO: Unidentified Football Offensive
Scrolling on Twitter is a way to quickly catch up on news, but have you ever been scrolling and seen yourself in the headlines? Cornerback Kendall Fuller has.
Sports reporter Adam Schefter tweeted about a trade between quarterback Alex Smith and an “unidentified” player. The media broke out into a guessing game of who it could be. Fuller seemed just as interested as the fans online to figure out who the swap would involve. As some suspected it to be Fuller, he began to investigate, updating his feed. Confident that he was safe, he posted, “Mannnnn im safe! I ain’t get traded.” That confidence died down after he continued to be tagged online.
Unraveling through tweets between 10:45pm and 12:09am, Fuller realized that he was the mystery person. He posted again after he found out the rumors were real, showing how abrupt trade news can be for athletes in the NFL. Fuller eventually said he was excited to be part of a new team, an opportunity he certainly did not anticipate while simply unwinding on his phone.
Definitely Not Slap Happy
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What is one of the weirdest places to find out you have been traded? Possibly in the parking lot at a Power Slap competition. Power Slap, founded by Dana White, involves competitors taking turns hitting each other. Maxx Crosby, a player for the Raiders, learned he was being traded to the Baltimore Ravens while pulling into the event.
White was meeting Crosby there when he saw the trade news break and decided to call him. Crosby had not even seen the news yet. Upset by the situation, Crosby left the event and was flown to the other side of the country just hours later.
After finally processing everything, Crosby discovered the trade was cut off just as suddenly. While reflecting about his time in Baltimore during a podcast episode, Crosby described how the head coach and general manager essentially ghosted him. Maxx stated, "He just made the trade, and I didn't see him for five hours." As Maxx was trying to figure out why he was being ignored, he was told the trade didn't go through, meaning he was headed back to the team that was prepared to give him up. No wonder the head coach didn’t want to talk. Not only did Crosby not get to enjoy the event because of the news, he wasted a weekend just to end up back in his hometown.
Wrap up your Warmups
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For most people, changing jobs involves a two week notice or a warning from their boss. For NFL players, they are forced to move immediately after finding out about a trade, despite how long they have been with their team.
Jon Beason was a linebacker for the Carolina Panthers. During his gameday prep one Thursday, he was pulled aside to talk with his coach. He was being swapped for Chase Blackburn. Beason was told about the trade as he was stretching in warmups in North Carolina. By the next day, he was already in the Northeast, now representing the New York Giants.
Steelers Got Stolen
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Getting drafted into the NFL is a dream come true for young football players. Athletes patiently wait for a call as each team gets to choose who they want. Makai Lemon got what he had been working towards, a call from the Steelers who were planning on choosing him as number 21 in the overall pick. The whole room burst into applause. While Makai was on the phone with the Steelers, his agent picked up a call only to realize that the Philadelphia Eagles had traded their position in line to choose Lemon before the Steelers could. Looking up at the news on TV, Lemon saw that he was officially an Eagle, forcing him to hang up the phone with one team to accept an offer from another. Two whirlwind phone calls in the span of a minute.
Reverse Card
Unlike “Freaky Friday,” there is not a magic spell to reverse a trade, but there may be a way out. Gronk, one of the most famous football stars, was playing for the New England Patriots when he found out he was being sent to the Lions. Or was he?
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While on the phone, he stated that he was retired so therefore he could not be traded. The trade never happened but neither did his retirement. He played for another season, using the tactic to continue with the Patriots. While most players are forced into a trade, Gronk flipped the scripts and got to stay with his teammates.
No matter if it helps or hurts a player’s career, trading season is a wild time in the NFL as fans, athletes, and reporters are all on the edge of their seats to hear what the league is up to. Sometimes news drops for everyone simultaneously meaning spectators might be more aware than the player themselves. There continues to be crazy swaps between teams every year, providing the NFL with a bit of chaos as loyal fans switch jerseys, allegiances, and their own personal brackets to keep up with their favorite player.
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