The release of running back Herschel Walker by the Minnesota Vikings last week ended arguably the most one-sided trade in modern National Football League history. The trade with the Dallas Cowboys left the Vikings looking like dupes of the decade and left their fans thinking about what the team might have been thinking when they made the deal.
The Cowboys received five players, seven conditional draft picks related to those players’ status and a 1992 first-round pick in exchange for Walker and two third-round picks. Now that the effect of the conditional selections is visible, the net result of the trade reads like the fine print of a bad rental contract.
It was clear at the time of the October 12, 1989, exchange – and this was reinforced in recent conversations with top executives – that everyone was thinking, “Well, what a good deal” for both sides.
Dallas got the picks it needed to rebuild. Minnesota got the player they believed would catapult them into the Super Bowl. And Walker had the chance to play for a Super Bowl contender. Walker was surprised
Peter Johnson, Walker’s agent, recalled last week that the running back was surprised the Cowboys wanted to trade him. But once he looked at the deal, which included $1.2 million for Walker from Dallas owner Jerry Jones to accept the trade, Walker was ready to pack his bags.
“He had an opportunity to go from the worst team in the league to one of the best,” Johnson said. “The Cowboys looked around and saw they only had one great player on their team and nothing else. Herschel was coming off a Pro Bowl year. Minnesota felt they were at a Super Bowl player, so the deal made sense for them.” Jones had a strategy
In an interview last week, Jones said he knew shortly after purchasing the team that Walker would have to be traded for additional draft picks.
“In my mind and in Jimmy’s mind, we knew we had to find ways to improve the team and we knew more draft picks would get us to where we wanted to be,” Jones said, referring to to coach Jimmy Johnson. “We looked at our roster in 1989 and saw we didn’t have much. Then we looked at the young players and the draft picks and thought they were going to develop and improve.
“Herschel was a top player, the best we had, but he would be a little older by the time we became a playoff team. We were looking for younger players, like Michael Irvin, who would be able to grow with the team.”
Cleveland and Minnesota were Walker’s derby finalists, but the Vikings beat the Browns because Cleveland didn’t have a first-round pick in the 1990 draft. Concerned about reaction
Jones was concerned about how the Walker deal would play with Dallas fans. He had been heavily criticized for firing legendary Cowboys coach Tom Landry and laying off much of the front office.
“I had met Herschel and his agent at the Four Seasons Hotel in Dallas around 1:30 a.m. on a Thursday and we made a deal,” Jones said. “When I went to bed, I was a little worried about what would appear in the papers. I didn’t know what the media and the fans would say. But their reaction surprised me. Most people were in favor of the agreement.”
Jones said he was concerned about giving up a proven Pro Bowl running back and not getting a proven Pro Bowl veteran in return.
Walker’s fate with Minnesota was sealed before his arrival. Jerry Burns, the coach at the time, disagreed with the trade and refused to modify his offense to accommodate the running back’s talents. Walker had a history of lacking an I-formation. Burns’ offense featured a split backfield and wide receivers. Burns briefly switched to a one-back system last season, but abandoned it four games into the season.
Minnesota was 21-23 with Walker and only made the playoffs once in his three seasons, and that was the first. Walker only had four 100-yard games with the team.
In an April interview, Mike Lynn, the former Vikings general manager who pushed through the Walker trade, stood by the deal, saying he expected all five players sent to the Cowboys to be part of from Dallas’ roster, thereby negating the conditional picks. Lynn also spoke about Walker’s talents not being properly utilized.
“Have I given up too much?” » said Lynn. “I gave up too much. Looking back, maybe I gave up three more picks than I should have. But Herschel is a good back. He ran for over 800 yards last year and he wasn’t on the field only 60 percent of the time.”
Lynn is no longer associated with the Vikings, having sold her 10 percent share in the team in March. Burns was fired at the end of last season. And now Walker, frustrated almost from the moment he arrived in Minnesota, is a free agent, cut because he privately refused to play more for the team at any cost.
Johnson said Walker still wanted to play football, but preferred to join a team that needed him, wanted him and had a chance to win the Super Bowl. Philadelphia newspapers reported yesterday that Walker would try out with the Eagles this week, but Norman Braman, the team’s owner, would not confirm the reports.
Ultimately, only Dallas made the Walker deal. But the Cowboys still haven’t reaped the incredible reward associated with the trade. The tangible gains were Emmitt Smith and defensive lineman Russell Maryland, taken with Minnesota’s first-round picks in the 1990 and 1991 drafts, respectively.
Basically, the trade gave the Cowboys the flexibility, through additional picks, to move up the draft board, and made Jones and Johnson look like geniuses. The epithet leads to the walkout
Reggie Williams, the general manager of the New York/New Jersey Knights, left a dinner for World League executives in Montreal Thursday evening after a member of a comedy troupe, entertaining the crowd with a game of association of words, let slip a racist remark. epithet. Williams, one of the few black people in the room at the time, later refused to speak about the incident.
Michael L. Huyghue, chairman of the 1992 World Bowl organizing committee and general counsel for the league, was responsible for planning the dinner and booking the comedy troupe. Huyghue, who is also black, called the episode “an unfortunate incident.”
