Moment 21: The Herschel Walker Trade
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DALLAS (CBSDFW.COM) - The changes were fast and furious when Jerry Jones purchased the Dallas Cowboys in 1989.
"There is nobody with the Dallas Cowboys that doesn't give as big a piece of them, or we don't want them with the Cowboys. A man that's going to be with the Cowboys is Jimmy Johnson," Jones proclaimed on the day that he purchased the team.
Six months after buying America's Team, Jones joined new head coach Johnson in engineering a huge trade that changed the fortunes of the Cowboys future.
It was on October 12, 1989 that the Cowboys dealt running back Herschel Walker to the Minnesota Vikings for five players and six draft picks -- the largest and most complicated trade in NFL history. Johnson had a simple description of the trade, calling it "the great train robbery."
The Cowboys used the picks acquired from Minnesota as the foundation for their wheeling and dealing philosophy.
Watch: Herschel Walker Trade Was "Like A Heist"
"We made a lot of trades," Johnson recalled, when asked about the blockbuster deal that sent Walker to the Vikings. "It's not as simple as making one trade -- sending Herschel Walker -- and all the sudden you get Super Bowls. We put a lot into it, and then we picked some good players after we made those trades."
A total of 51 trades in five years helped the Cowboys draft the talents of running back Emmitt Smith in 1990, Russell Maryland in 1991, and Kevin Smith and Darren Woodson in 1992.
Watch: Johnson Discusses The Benefits Of Trades
But it was the 1989 Herschel Walker trade helped the 1-15 Cowboys become a true NFL dynasty, winning three Super Bowls in four seasons in the 1990s. It's the 21st greatest moment in team history.
