5 worst trades in Minnesota Vikings history

1. The Herschel Walker deal

The Herschel Walker trade is almost inarguably the worst trade in NFL history (the Russell Wilson deal may knock it off that perch), based on the sheer volume of what the Vikings gave up. So it’s naturally No. 1 on the list of their worst trades.

To recap, here’s what the Dallas Cowboys got from the Vikings for Walker and a couple of draft picks on Oct. 12, 1989. It set them up to win three Super Bowl rings over four years in the 1990s.

LB Jesse Solomon
RB Darrin Nelson
LB David Howard
CB Issiac Holt
DE Alex Stewart
Minnesota’s 1st round pick in 1990
Minnesota’s 2nd round pick in 1990
Minnesota’s 6th round pick in 1990
Minnesota’s 1st round pick in 1991 (conditional on cutting Solomon)
Minnesota’s 2nd round pick in 1991 (conditional on cutting Howard)
Minnesota’s 1st round pick in 1992 (conditional on cutting Holt)
Minnesota’s 2nd round pick in 1992 (condition met by trading away Nelson)
Minnesota’s 3rd round pick in 1992 (conditional on cutting Stewart)

Then-new Cowboys’ head coach Jimmy Johnson has since said he didn’t want players for Walker, he wanted draft picks–hence the conditions placed on getting picks when players were parted with. Darrin Nelson refused to report to the Cowboys, so he was dealt to the San Diego Chargers.

Walker ran for 148 yards in his Vikings’ debut against the Green Bay Packers. But his first carry as a Viking stands as a foreshadowing of what was to come when he lost his shoe during a breakaway run (at the 3:10 mark of this video).

Johnson recognized Walker had a lot of tread taken off his tires, going back to huge workloads in college at Georgia, to his time in the USFL with the New Jersey Generals and 361 carries for the Cowboys in 1988.

On the other hand, the Vikings thought they were a star running back away from being a Super Bowl contender, so they mortgaged the future. In the process, they gave the Cowboys light at the end of the tunnel as they went through a 1-15 season in 1989.