When William Gay left the Pittsburgh Steelers in 2012 to play for the Arizona Cardinals, he did so as a figure less than beloved in the city, having built up a reputations not entirely deserved for being a poor player, a reputation that stemmed largely from his first stint as a starter in 2009, replacing Bryant McFadden, who joined the Cardinals himself in free agency that year.
Like McFadden, Gay found himself back in Pittsburgh just a year later. In McFadden’s case, the Steelers traded a fifth-round draft pick in order to acquire him—and a sixth-round draft pick that turned into Antonio Brown—the following draft.