On Oct. 12, 1989, Mike Lynn consummated a trade that would become part of NFL lore, though probably not for any reason he anticipated.
Lynn, then the Vikings general manager, coveted Cowboys running back Herschel Walker, one of the sport’s most celebrated players since his legendary freshman season at Georgia.
Walker wasn’t washed up in 1989 — he had run for 1,514 yards the previous season — but some tread had begun to wear off the 27-year-old’s tires, and the Cowboys were terrible, en route to a one-win season under first-year coach Jimmy Johnson.
Johnson made the decision — an obvious one decades in hindsight, but considered bold at the time — to make Walker available and accelerate the roster rebuild, figuring that the big-name ball carrier would command a bushel of draft picks.