The fall of 1987 was the strangest the NFL had ever seen. The players' union called a strike on September 22; the third week of the season was canceled outright, and weeks four through six were played by replacement teams while the regulars stood on picket lines. The veterans didn't return until the seventh week, October 25.1
And while the strike emptied the league of its stars for three weeks, two of the most important players in football were absent for an entirely different reason. They weren't on strike. They were refusing to play.
The rookie who wouldn't sign
The first was a 22-year-old who had never played a down in the NFL. Cornelius Bennett, the Lombardi Award-winning linebacker from Alabama, had been drafted second overall by the Indianapolis Colts that spring — and then never signed. He stayed home while the Colts, coming off a 3–13 season, waited on a contract that never came. Indianapolis had drafted a franchise cornerstone it was unable to get under contract.2
In Buffalo, general manager Bill Polian was watching. The Bills were assembling something on defense — Bruce Smith was already a first-team All-Pro, and the 1987 draft had brought rookie linebacker Shane Conlan, who earned second-team All-Pro honors that year.6 Polian believed the defense was one player short of special. The unsigned linebacker in Indianapolis was the player.
The superstar who wouldn't play
The second holdout was the most famous runner in football. Eric Dickerson's war with the Los Angeles Rams dated to 1985, when he missed the first two games of the season in a contract dispute and still rushed for 1,234 yards.2 By 1987 the relationship was beyond repair: the Rams, unwilling to renegotiate his contract, were finished with him, and he with them.3 He played only three games for Los Angeles that season before the standoff reached its end.
This was no ordinary disgruntled star. Dickerson had set the single-season rushing record with 2,105 yards in 1984, had led the league in rushing four times in his first four seasons, and ran with a philosophy he stated plainly: "When they have their hands on their knees, that's when they're tired. If I get the ball enough times, something's going to give — me or the defense."3 Nearly always, it was the defense.
In Indianapolis, head coach Ron Meyer had coached Dickerson at SMU. The Colts were 3–13 a year earlier and starved for relevance. The fit was obvious to everyone except the two teams holding the unsigned assets.
The Halloween phone call
On October 31, 1987, the three franchises finished what two separate standoffs had started. The Rams sent Eric Dickerson to the Indianapolis Colts. The Colts sent the rights to Cornelius Bennett to the Buffalo Bills. And the Rams collected the bill: running backs Greg Bell and Owen Gill plus six draft picks — three from each of the other teams.7
The pick ledger tells the story of the price. Buffalo surrendered its 1988 first-rounder (#14), its 1989 first-rounder (#26), and its 1989 second-rounder (#53). Indianapolis surrendered its 1988 first-rounder (#20), its 1988 second-rounder (#47), and its 1989 second-rounder (#45).7 Ten players and picks changed hands in all — the Pro Football Hall of Fame notes that only four deals in league history ever involved more.7
There is a quiet irony buried in the pick numbers. Buffalo's 1988 first-rounder landed at #14 because the Bills finished 7–8 and missed the playoffs.6 But the 1989 first-rounder Buffalo sent fell all the way to #26 — because with Bennett aboard, the Bills went 12–4 the next season.14 Buffalo's own success kept discounting the price it had already agreed to pay.
Why it took three teams
Three-team trades are rare in football for a structural reason: draft picks are the currency, and one buyer rarely has enough of it. The Colts wanted Dickerson — a proven, record-setting star — but they had only their own picks to offer, and only so many seasons of them. The Rams wanted a premium return for the best running back of the era, and Indianapolis alone couldn't get there.
Bennett was the key that unlocked it. The Colts' one premium asset — a #2 overall pick they couldn't sign — happened to be exactly what Buffalo coveted. The Bills paid with their starting running back and three of their own picks, which gave the Rams the six-pick haul they demanded.7 Three teams, each holding one piece of the puzzle the other two needed. It's the reason this deal, more than any other, is the template people reach for when a three-team trade is rumored: every leg makes sense on its own, and none of the three teams could have done it with just one partner.
What Buffalo bought
Buffalo bought the missing piece. Bennett joined Smith, Conlan, and Darryl Talley, and the defense that took shape around them became the core of the most famous run in franchise history: four consecutive Super Bowl appearances in the 1990 through 1993 seasons.68
Bennett himself became everything Polian had hoped. He was a first-team All-Pro in 1988, 1991, and 1992, a five-time Pro Bowler (1988, 1990–1993), a two-time AFC Defensive Player of the Year, and a member of the NFL's 1990s All-Decade Team.4 He spent nine seasons in Buffalo, recording 52.5 sacks and 793 tackles there after arriving midway through his rookie year.5 Sports Illustrated's retrospective on the deadline's biggest deals calls Buffalo "the underrated winner of the trade."8 It's hard to argue.
What Indianapolis bought
Indianapolis bought a miracle, and it worked — once. Dickerson played nine games for the Colts in 1987 and still gained 1,011 yards, finishing the season with 1,288. He spearheaded a late-season run that carried the Colts to 9–6, the AFC East title, and their first winning season and first playoff berth in a decade.212 The run ended in Cleveland, where the Browns beat them 38–21 in the divisional round.12
The afterglow was real but brief. Dickerson led the league in rushing again in 1988 with 1,659 yards, became the fastest player ever to 10,000 career rushing yards (91 games), and by 1989 had set a record with seven straight 1,000-yard seasons to open a career.2 But the Colts never made the playoffs again during his tenure.8 He retired in 1993 and entered the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1999.13 Indianapolis got the player it wanted, at the peak of his powers, and got exactly one January out of him.
What Los Angeles bought
Los Angeles bought a list — and the list, honestly graded, is the weakest leg of the deal. But it's not the disaster the legend sometimes suggests, because of Greg Bell.
Bell arrived in Los Angeles as a throw-in and immediately became the offense's engine. In 1988, his first full season as a Ram, he rushed for a team-high 1,212 yards and led the NFL with 16 touchdowns. In 1989 he did it again: 1,137 yards, a league-leading 15 touchdowns, and an 11–5 Rams team that reached the NFC Championship Game.9 Bell understood exactly why it worked: "I knew I would be a large part of the offense because of John Robinson," he said of the Rams' head coach. "John loved running the ball."9
The six draft picks were a different story. The Rams used them on running back Gaston Green (#14, 1988), wide receiver Aaron Cox (#20, 1988), linebacker Fred Strickland (#47, 1988), running back Cleveland Gary (#26, 1989), linebacker Frank Stams (#45, 1989), and defensive back Darryl Henley (#53, 1989).7 Green never became a factor. Cox became a starting receiver in Los Angeles (1988–92), Strickland a starting linebacker (1988–92), and Henley a starting corner who started 15 games in 1991.1110 Serviceable players, all — but none of the six became a star, and none changed the franchise's trajectory. The Rams traded the era's defining running back for two great seasons from Greg Bell and a handful of solid pros.
The bill didn't come due all at once. With Bell leading the league in touchdowns two years running, Los Angeles stayed competitive: 10–6 and a wild-card berth in 1988,15 then 11–5 and a trip to the NFC Championship Game in 1989.9 But Bell's peak lasted exactly those two seasons, and none of the six drafted players ever became the kind of star the Rams had given away. The Rams had traded a generational player for depth — good depth, even excellent depth for two autumns — and spent the years after watching the distance between those two things grow.
The trade comes full circle
Every three-team blockbuster since has been measured against Halloween 1987, and the deal has one last twist that no one planned. Cornelius Bennett, the unsigned rookie the Colts could never sign, finished his career in Indianapolis — he played his final two seasons, 1999 and 2000, in a Colts uniform, the team that drafted him and never got him.4
That's the thing about this trade. Buffalo got a dynasty cornerstone. Indianapolis got its only playoff run of the era. Los Angeles got two years of Greg Bell and six lottery tickets, four of which barely scratched. Each team got exactly what it bargained for on October 31, 1987 — and nearly forty years later, the distance between what they bargained for and what it was worth is the whole story.
Sources
- Pro Football Hall of Fame — Chronology: 1980 to 1999 — 1987: 24-day strike, week 3 canceled, replacement games weeks 4–6, veterans returned Oct 25; three-team trade summary (Oct 31)
- Wikipedia: Eric Dickerson — contract disputes from 1985, 3 games for Rams in 1987, Bennett "unable to sign," 1,011 yards in 9 games (1,288 total), first playoff berth in 10 years, 1988 rushing title (1,659), fastest to 10,000 (91 games), seven straight 1,000-yard seasons, the six players drafted with the picks, Ron Meyer coached him at SMU
- Pro Football Researchers Association — Coffin Corner on Eric Dickerson — Rams "unwilling to renegotiate Dickerson's contract"; Dickerson quotes on his running style; three-team trade mechanics
- Wikipedia: Cornelius Bennett — drafted #2 overall 1987, 3× First-team All-Pro (1988, 1991, 1992), 5× Pro Bowl (1988, 1990–1993), 2× AFC Defensive Player of the Year, NFL 1990s All-Decade Team, Bills 1987–95, final seasons with Colts 1999–2000
- Buffalo Rumblings — Bills Wall of Fame candidates: LB Cornelius Bennett — "prolonged holdout with the Indianapolis Colts"; 52.5 sacks and 793 tackles in Buffalo
- Wikipedia: 1987 Buffalo Bills season — Oct 31 three-team trade summary, Bills 7–8 in 1987, Bennett helped form nucleus of later Super Bowl defenses, Bruce Smith 1st-team All-Pro, Shane Conlan 2nd-team All-Pro
- Pro Football Hall of Fame — "Trick or Trade" — 10 players/picks involved, only four deals ever larger; full pick ledger (Green #14, Cox #20, Strickland #47, Gary #26, Stams #45, Henley #53) and team-by-team breakdown
- Sports Illustrated — Biggest NFL Trade Deadline Deals in Football History — Bills "underrated winner," Bennett "three-time All-Pro" who helped Buffalo reach four straight Super Bowls; Dickerson's 1987 postseason run, no further Colts playoff berths during his tenure
- Los Angeles Rams — "Where Are They Now? Former Rams RB Greg Bell" — 1988: 1,212 yards, led NFL with 16 TDs; 1989: 1,137 yards, led league with 15 TDs, 11–5 and NFC Championship Game; Bell quotes on John Robinson
- The Football Database — 1991 Los Angeles Rams roster — Darryl Henley DB, 16 games / 15 starts; Fred Strickland 14 games / 10 starts
- The Football Database — Rams all-time roster (linebackers) — Fred Strickland Rams 1988–92; Frank Stams Rams 1989–91
- Wikipedia — 1987 Indianapolis Colts season — 9–6, 1st AFC East, first winning season/division title/playoff berth since 1977; lost divisional round to Browns 38–21
- ClutchPoints — Rams news: Eric Dickerson — retired 1993, Pro Football Hall of Fame 1999
- Wikipedia — 1988 Buffalo Bills season — Buffalo Bills 12–4, 1st AFC East, won divisional round
- Wikipedia — 1988 Los Angeles Rams season — Rams 10–6, 2nd NFC West, lost wild-card round
About this article: it was drafted with AI assistance from the Football Trade Trees database and public reporting, then reviewed by a human editor. Spot an error? Email [email protected].