Several times this season the Seattle Seahawks and San Francisco 49ers released players only to watch them end up on the roster of their rival in the following days.
The 49ers signed Seattle’s fourth round draft pick Chris Harper off of their practice squad prior to the start of the regular season. Seattle followed by claiming quarterback B.J. Daniels off waivers following his release by San Francisco. These are just two examples of the path worn back and forth between the two cities and NFC West rivals this season.
49ers cornerback Perrish Cox is the only play to actually play games for both teams.
Despite all the animosity between the two franchises, Cox says neither team came to him asking for insight into the inner workings of the opposing team.
“Little does anyone know is neither team ever came to me to ask about anything about the other team,” Cox said, via Ross Jones of FOXSports.com. “It was more of me being focused on my playbook and trying to get stuff done in a short period of time that I was there and learning a whole new playbook is very, very difficult.”
Cox appeared in nine games for the 49ers before being released in early November. He was briefly signed by Seattle and then released after just one day of practice as the Seahawks dealt with roster issues created by the suspensions of Walter Thurmond and Brandon Browner. But Seattle brought him back full-time shortly thereafter and he appeared in two games for Seattle in December, playing mostly on special teams.
With Thurmond coming off of his four-game suspension for a violation of the league’s substance abuse policy, Cox was again released by Seattle.
He returned to the 49ers for the playoffs after Carlos Rogers suffered a hamstring injury in Week 17 that’s forced him to miss San Francisco’s two playoff games against the Green Bay Packers and Carolina Panthers.
The Seahawks and 49ers know enough about each other as it is with the teams meeting twice a season. Pete Carroll and Jim Harbaugh faced off yearly in the Pac-10 as well before their moves to coaching positions in the NFL. Trying to pry menial nuggets about the opposing teams playbooks and strategies apparently aren’t that high on the priority lists for either team.