Dumb Deal Now Done Deal: Vikings Cut Walker

The Minnesota Vikings’ Herschel Walker era has ended.

Unable to win the Super Bowl--or even a playoff game--since giving the Dallas Cowboys five players and eight draft choices for Walker in October 1989, the Vikings cut the unhappy running back Friday, rather than re-sign him for his 1991 salary of $1.7 million.

This is what the Vikings have to show for the megadeal: third-string tight end Mike Jones and fifth-string receiver Jake Reed.

The Cowboys have parlayed their share of the trade into Emmitt Smith, Russell Maryland and Issiac Holt, along with lesser-knowns Kevin Smith, Darren Woodson, Clayton Holmes, James Brown, Tom Myslinski, Greg Briggs, Fallon Wacasey and Chris Hall.

Walker’s own agent, Peter Johnson, once called it “one of the worst trades in NFL history.”