Herschel Walker trade The Herschel Walker trade , also known as " The Great Train Robbery " , was the largest player trade in the history of the National Football League . It involved 18 players and draft picks . The trade was made on October 12 , 1989 , between the Dallas Cowboys and the Minnesota Vikings . Background . In his book , " Greatest Team Ever : The Dallas Cowboys Dynasty of the 1990s " , author Norm Hitzges chronicled the Herschel Walker trade . Four games into the 1989 season , Jimmy Johnson , then head coach of the Dallas Cowboys , came up with the idea to trade Walker while on a morning jog with his staff . Johnson felt the Cowboys were so terrible that only a blockbuster trade could help them . He briefly considered trading wide receiver Michael Irvin to the Los Angeles Raiders , but Raiders owner Al Davis essentially talked Johnson out of the trade by saying , " You sure you want to do that ? Who is going to catch passes for you ? " Johnson felt that Walker was the only remaining bargaining chip they had . A number of teams contacted the Cowboys when they announced that they would trade Walker . The New York Giants expressed interest , but the trade would have been unfavorable for Dallas since both teams were in the NFC East division . The Atlanta Falcons entered into negotiations , but eventually pulled out over fear of Walker ' s future contract demands . The most serious offer came from the Cleveland Browns . Johnson stated , " [ The Browns ] offered us a player , a couple of future number one draft picks and three number two draft picks . " The Cowboys felt this was a favorable offer , but they also felt that if another team were to enter the discussion , then they could generate a bidding war and thereby get even more compensation . Jimmy Johnson and team owner Jerry Jones decided to contact other clubs to generate buzz and create leverage . Johnson contacted Minnesota Vikings General Manager Mike Lynn . Johnson told Lynn that he was going to trade Walker to Cleveland that afternoon , and that if Minnesota would like to trade for Walker , then it would cost them " players , draft picks , conditional picks , and provisions " , giving Lynn a deadline of 6 : 30 p . m . Lynn , feeling Walker was the missing piece to a Super Bowl run , faxed Johnson that he was interested , and soon after negotiations ensued . In order to get Walker to agree to a trade , the Cowboys paid him a $ 1 . 25 million " exit bonus " . Aftermath and legacy . Dallas ended up with a total of six of Minnesota ' s picks over the succeeding years , two 1st round and one 2nd round picks were used to draft Emmitt Smith and Darren Woodson , winning multiple Super Bowls and being voted on to go to the Pro Bowl numerous times also . Jimmy Johnson used the other draft picks to make trades with other teams around the NFL . One of the trades led to obtaining the first overall draft pick in 1991 , which was used to draft Russell Maryland . In other words , the trade of Herschel Walker to the Vikings contributed largely to the Cowboys ' success in the early 1990s . For this reason , ESPN . com ' s Page 2 lists it as the 8th most lopsided trade in sports history . Seventeen years later , the trade was still an easy target for satire : one ESPN columnist , assessing the impact of free agency on the NFL , noted that it had almost entirely replaced significant trades and by doing so " took away one of the greatest shortcuts to becoming a Super Bowl champion : fleecing the Vikings . "