The Ironic Relationship Between Chris Harris & Kevin Payne

What's up, Chicago!?  BEAR DOWN, y'all!

I'm just sitting here thinking about how crazy this trade between myself and my friend, Chris Harris, was.  You may not be aware of this, but him and I have had an interesting history together when it comes to team transactions.  Seriously, I could one day write a book about this insane and totally ironic ride we've been on together throughout our NFL careers; and it wouldn't surprise me if it actually sold a few copies - Ha!

Okay, so try and follow me here, aight.  This story is a wild one.

1. Chris and I both attend college at the University of Louisiana at Monroe (ULM).
2. Chris and I both play football for the ULM Warhawks.
3. Chris and I both play the position of safety.
4. Chris and I both signed with the same sports agent: Albert Elias of Elias Sports Management, LLC.
5. Chris is drafted by the Chicago Bears in 2005 and becomes their safety.
6. I'm drafted by the Chicago Bears in 2007 to become their safety.

Let's stop right there for a moment.

By this time, Chris had been playing safety for the Bears for two seasons.  But now that I was coming on board, there was suddenly one too many safeties on the team.  

So, one summer day during training camp, all of us were working out, doing our thing, when we suddenly looked up and realized that Chris wasn't at practice.  Everyone was like... "Where's Chris?"

Chris had been traded to the Carolina Panthers.

I was really sad he was traded, because he's such a good friend of mine.  After having gone to school with him, I truly enjoyed being around the guy and didn't want to see him go.  He was always "that guy" who I looked up to on the field, because he was the first person to make it to the NFL outta our small school, ULM.  So - understandably so - he was someone I wanted to continue playing ball with.

So both Chris and I go on to enjoy some fun seasons with each of our teams, and then 2010 rolls around...

On April 27, 2010 Chris is traded BACK to the Chicago Bears to play the position of safety.  And you guys remember what position I play, right? <Haha>

Now that Chris was back in the Bears' picture, my agent began hitting the market to see what teams were interested in me (And I'm flattered to say there were many ;-)  Ultimately, St. Louis offered the best opportunities for me, and I'm now proud to call myself a Ram.

So do you see how crazy things have been between Chris and I?  ...Albert (our agent) helps Chris get drafted by the Bears out of ULM / Albert helps me get drafted by the Bears out of ULM and I take Chris' spot at safety / Years later, Albert helps Chris during his trade back to the Bears, where he takes the spot I originally took from him / Finally, Albert helps me get traded to the Rams.

If all of the above isn't already crazy enough for ya, get a load of what would have been an even CRAZIER coincidence, had it happened...

If I remember correctly, while Albert was shopping me around to teams, he said something about the CAROLINA PANTHERS possibly being interested in me!  

Seriously, before Albert even told me that I had wondered how crazy it would be if I ended up going to the Panthers to take over Chris' former position.  Obviously it didn't happen.  But what if it had!?  That would have been SUPER CRAZY.

(FACTOID: I've said a variation of the word "crazy" four times in the last three paragraphs of this post. Yup.)

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