Broncos RELEASE ….

Dallas Morning News hilariously within a week of the Herschel Walker trade.

Frank Luksa of the Dallas Times Herald said the Walker was traded for "a bag of beans and a cow to be named later."

The Vikings traded the final three years of the contract of Herschel Walker for:   

Emmitt Smith, the NFL's career rushing leader rusher.
Russell Maryland, Pro Bowl Defensive Tackle.
Kevin Smith, All-Pro Corner.
Darren Woodson, Dallas' All-Time leading tackler.

The Cowboys also drafted Clayton Holmes, who was a starting cornerback after Smith got hurt in 1995 and before Deion Sanders got healthy before the bye.  With Holmes at starting corner, the Cowboys started 6-1.  The week after Sanders took Holmes' spot, Holmes started failing drug tests and never played again in the NFL.  Holmes still picked up his ring for his three Super Bowls.

All five of the above players received three Super Bowl rings.

The Vikings went 10-6 in 1989 and were a 24-14 loss away from hosting the Rams in the Divisional Round.  The Vikings turned the ball over four times, including two Alfred Anderson fumbles in four touches.  (Anderson only fumbled one other time in 1989.)  Because the Rams upset the Eagles, the Vikings played the Niners in San Francisco in the Divisional Round, losing by four touchdowns.  (Teams from the same Division could not play in the Divisional Round at the time.)  The Cowboys went 1-15.

The Cowboys would finish ahead of the Vikings for the next seven seasons.  Maryland left after the 1995 Super Bowl run, and Switzer poisoned the remaining team-members by feuding with Aikman in the 1997 season.  The Vikings had basically punched their ticket to Super Bowl XXXIII, but blew a 13-point lead, which is the largest blown lead in an NFC Championship Game up until that time.  The Vikings were in position to save the game, but Anderson shanked a 38-yard field goal wide left in regulation, losing 30-27 in overtime to the Falcons, who predictably lost to the Broncos two weeks later by 15.  The Vikings have gone to three subsequent NFC Championship Games.  The Cowboys still have not been back since 1995.

Largest trade ever.  Six players and 12 draft picks with the Cowboys winding up with three players and eight draft picks.

The second-largest trade since 1971 was the Eric Dickerson trade.

The Rams traded Dickerson for Greg Bell, Owen Gill and six draft picks.  The Rams, though, drafted Gaston Green, Aaron Cox, Fred Strickland, Cleveland Gary, Frank Stams, and Darryl Henley.  The Rams would not be patient with Green and traded him for Gerald Perry, a lineman who had recently been accused of soliciting prostitutes.  Green was the only Pro Bowler drafted in the six picks, but he would only make the Pro Bowl after the trade to the Broncos, playing but losing in the AFC Championship Game to the Bills in the second straight Bills Super Bowl. 

The Rams went to the playoffs the first four seasons with Dickerson.  The Rams did not make the playoffs the year that they traded Dickerson.  But the Rams went to the playoffs the next two years.  Nine consecutive losing seasons followed before winning Super Bowl XXXIV behind Kurt Warner.

The Colts won the Central in 1987 with Dickerson but lost to the Browns in the Division Round.  The Colts got progressively worse each season before bottoming out at 1-15 in 1991.  The Colts traded Dickerson to the Raiders for a Fourth and Eighth Rounder, which they squandered.  The Colts squandered their first overall pick in 1992 on Steve Emtman, who could not stay healthy in the NFL.  The Colts would play in an AFC Championship Game in 1996.  Ted Marchibroda asked for a two-year extension but was only offered one, so he quit, and the Colts hilariously hired Lindy Infante from within, who immediately tanked the team.  The Colts would use the first overall pick on Peyton Manning, who Tony Dungy would use to build a consistent winner in 2002.

The real winner in the Dickerson trade was the seldom talked about Bills, who received Cornelius Bennett for Gill and three of the draft picks that the Rams frittered away.  The Bills went 4-12 in 1986 but played in six consecutive AFC Championship Games, beginning in 1988, winning four and playing and hilariously losing four consecutive Super Bowls.

No Andrew Carnegies anymore? 

There is some great people out there like the Valleys.

His stats were better than “decent” last year, but still not to the level of his contract. Payton had already made up his mind after year 1, so it didn’t matter.

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Kindly note that I stated “But that does not preclude that they had their reasons to release Wilson.” Thanks, friend.