Peyton Manning and 8 Players We Thought Would Never Change Teams

Peyton Manning is no longer a member of the Indianapolis Colts.

As hard as it is to say that, we all knew it was coming, especially coming off a season that was one of the worst in Colts history that saw Manning out the entire year due to a neck injury.

Now, the Colts must turn their focus on the 2012 NFL draft, and the likelihood that Stanford's Andrew Luck will be the new face of the franchise.

Manning, however, will be in a different uniform. Whether it's with the Dolphins, Redskins, Browns, Seahawks or some other team, it will be something all NFL fans are going to have to get used to—seeing No. 18 in a different uniform.

Considered by many to be the savior of the Colts franchise, Manning is one of those guys you thought would retire as a Colt.

Countless other players have been the face of their franchise, but somehow or another ended up on another team.

Here's a look at eight other players we thought would never end up in another uniform.

Note: Many of the stats used in the slides only refer to what each player totaled while with the team mentioned.

Jerry Rice

Jerry Rice is the best wide receiver in NFL history—period.

After the 49ers drafted him in the first round of the 1985 NFL draft, Rice spent 16 seasons in San Francisco before signing with the team across the Bay in 2000, after the emergence of Terrell Owens.

This is one player who, along with a couple of quarterbacks, helped to define who the 49ers really were.

Many San Francisco fans took it very hard when Rice signed with the Raiders.

Had he retired instead of signing with the Raiders, Rice would have still held the all-time receiving yards record and the record for touchdowns by a receiver or running back.

One thing is for sure: San Francisco fans will always hold Rice dearly.

Joe Montana

Joe Montana is another player many 49ers fans thought would stay in San Francisco throughout his career.

Montana spent 13 years in San Francisco where he completed 63.7 percent of his passes for 35,124 yards and 273 touchdowns. To go along with that, he started in and won four Super Bowls for the Niners.

Sadly, for 49er fans, the team traded Montana to Kansas City before the 1993 season. Somehow, the headline "Montana traded to Kansas City" has been an ironic one since some non-sports fans somehow thought the state of Montana was being engulfed by the city of Kansas City (however impossible that would be).

One thing that led to the trade was the fact that Montana had been injured his last two years in San Francisco, while another quarterback (Steve Young) began the start of his Hall of Fame career.

The Montana situation goes in line with the Manning situation, in which the franchise moves star players to give the organization a fresh start.

Still, Montana goes down as the greatest 49er quarterback in history, and one of the top 10 of all time.

Brett Favre

Let's just put all of the retirement talk aside and say that Brett Favre made the Green Bay Packers relevant again.

Arguably one of the top three quarterbacks in NFL history (depending on who you ask), Favre has his name attached to most career passing records.

In his 16 years in Green Bay, Favre threw for more than 61,000 yards and 442 touchdowns.

To put it simply, Favre was great.

However, with all of the retirement talk and the fact that the Packers had Aaron Rodgers waiting in the wings, everyone could see that things weren't going to end well for Favre in Green Bay.

After rethinking his retirement decision, Favre decided to come back, only to get traded to the Jets.

One year later, after signing with Minnesota, Favre brought the Vikings to the verge of the Super Bowl, losing to the Saints in the NFC championship game.

Still, it was awkward to see No. 4 in any color combination other than green and yellow.

Bruce Smith

When I think of the greatest sack master in the history of the NFL, there's only one name that comes to mind—Bruce Smith.

Smith is the greatest defensive end in NFL history and did most of his work while a member of the Bills.

During his time with Buffalo, Smith racked up 171 sacks, which would've been good enough for No. 2 on the all-time list behind Reggie White. He didn't stop there and played three more seasons for the Redskins, where he got 29 more sacks to become the all-time leader in the NFL.

Smith just looked weird in another team's uniform.

Although age was starting to set in and Bills fans knew it was time, it wasn't easy to see one of the greatest players in your team's history move on to another team.

I think many of them would have rather seen him retire. But I think most were ecstatic when he broke White's all-time sack record in 2003.

Emmitt Smith

Emmitt Smith was always able to find an open space while a staple in the Cowboys backfield for 13 seasons.

During his career in Dallas, Smith rushed for 17,162 yards and 153 touchdowns. The rushing yards were good enough for the best all-time, and what happened next wasn't necessary.

In 2003, Cowboy fans saw "America's Team" release Smith and he then signed with the Arizona Cardinals.

Seeing Smith run for Arizona was not a pretty sight. I'm sure it broke the hearts of many Cowboy fans as their once-unstoppable running back looked very stoppable in his final two seasons in the league with Arizona.

Marcus Allen

This one cuts deep for many Raider fans.

Marcus Allen, arguably the best running back in the history of the franchise, could not get along with team owner Al Davis.

So, it was no surprise this split happened after Allen spent 10 years in Oakland, but you still wish the two guys could've worked out their differences.

To top it all off, Allen signed with the division-rival Chiefs, which was probably a move to stick it right to Davis—or due to the fact that he would get the chance to play with Joe Montana.

Any way you look at it, Allen goes down as the greatest Raider running back ever. Despite his differences with Davis, the Bay Area still has a lot of love for Allen.

Johnny Unitas

Not many people know it, but Johnny Unitas was actually drafted and cut by the Steelers in 1955.

However, Unitas was the odd man out of the four quarterbacks on the team, and the Colts happily swooped him up a year later.

During his career, Unitas had a 47-game streak where he threw at least one touchdown pass—a record that still stands today. That record is often compared to Joe DiMaggio's 56-game hitting streak in baseball.

While with the Colts, Unitas threw for close to 40,000 yards and 287 touchdowns.

In 1973, the Colts traded Unitas to San Diego, where he spent one year and then retired into the sunset.

Art Monk

I remember watching my first NFL game; it featured Art Monk and the Redskins against the Falcons.

There was something about him that I couldn't put my finger on, but he instantly became one of my favorite players in the game—and still is. During his 14 years with the Redskins, Monk had 888 receptions for 12,026 yards and 65 touchdowns.

And to think those stats came back in the day when running the football was still the thing to do...

I hated to see Monk leave the Redskins for the Jets.

It just didn't seem right. It was hard to picture No. 81 in anything but a Redskins uniform.