Ranking NFL's greatest in-season trades of all-time: Where Kirk Cousins to Vikings ranks among top 10

While it was quiet for a while, there were plenty of fireworks during the final hours of Tuesday's NFL trade deadline. The biggest trade was the one that sent quarterback Kirk Cousins back to Minnesota. 

As it currently stands, that is already one of the most notable in-season trades in NFL history. Quarterbacks of Cousins' stature are almost never traded during a season, especially not to a team that is in position to possibly win a division title. Making this trade even more notable is that the Raiders, who received a third-round pick in exchange for Cousins, will now give the keys to the offense to No. 1 overall pick Fernando Mendoza. 

Here's where the Cousins trade already ranks among the biggest in-season deals of all time. 

10. 1981: Air Coryell goes through a reboot 

The 1981 Chargers were involved in seismic trades, two of which included receivers. The first sent All-Pro John Jefferson to the Packers in a blockbuster trade that included a 1983 first-round pick and second-round picks in 1982 and 1984. 

Two weeks after trading Jefferson, the Chargers traded for then-Saints receiver Wes Chandler, who provided an immediate spark for the "Air Coryell" offense. Chandler helped the Chargers advance to that year's AFC title game. He had 12 catches in two playoff games along with a big punt return for a score in the Chargers' overtime win over the Dolphins in the divisional round. 

Chandler led the NFL in receiving yards and touchdown catches the following season and was named to the Pro Bowl three times during his first four seasons in San Diego. Jefferson, however, never again matched the level of success he had with the Chargers. 

9. 2026: Captain Kirk returns to Minnesota 

Tuesday's trade has a chance to be one of the most consequential in NFL history. The trade officially signaled the beginning of the Mendoza era in Las Vegas, and it also infused life into a 6-2 Vikings team that desperately needed help at quarterback. 

Tuesday's trade represented a full-circle moment for Cousins, who never wanted to leave Minnesota in the first place. After a two-plus year hiatus, Cousins will get another chance to lead the Vikings on a possible playoff run. 

8. 2019: Jaguars deal Jalen Ramsey to Rams

Rams GM Les Snead's "F them picks" philosophy eventually led to a Super Bowl win for the Rams. The trade for Ramsey two years earlier helped make that championship possible. 

The Rams gave the Jaguars a first-round selection in the 2020 NFL Draft in addition to first- and fourth- round picks in the 2021 draft for Ramsey, who in 2017 had led the Jaguars within a game of the Super Bowl. Ramsey was named to the Pro Bowl during his first four seasons with the Rams. He had four picks, 16 pass breakups, a forced fumble and a fumble recovery during the Rams' Super Bowl-winning season. 

7. 1981: Trade for Fred Dean jumpstarts 49ers dynasty

After a 6-10 outfit in 1980, the 49ers were off to a 3-2 start in 1981 when they sent first- and second-round picks in the 1983 NFL Draft to the Chargers in exchange for Dean. Dean was a Pro Bowler each of the previous two years and also mired in a contract dispute. 

Just days after coming to San Francisco, Dean had a pair of sacks while helping the 49ers record a 45-14 win over the Cowboys, the same team the 49ers would later defeat in the NFC title game. With the 49ers, Dean recorded 12 sacks in 11 games that season while helping San Francisco win their first Super Bowl. Dean helped San Francisco win another Super Bowl in 1984 before being inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2008. 

6. 1958: The 'Bobby Layne Curse' is born 

Bobby Layne was Detroit royalty ... until he wasn't. Five years after leading the Lions to back-to-back NFL titles, Layne was traded to the Steelers just two weeks into the 1958 season. A year earlier, the Lions won their third title with Tobin Rote at quarterback after Layne broke his leg during the second-to-last game of the regular season. 

At the time of the trade, Layne allegedly said that the Lions would not win for another 50 years, a statement that became known as the "Bobby Lane Curse." Detroit is still trying to win its first title since 1957. 

Layne, who was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1967, played five seasons for the Steelers, earning two Pro Bowls over that span and posting a 27-19-2 record as the team's starting quarterback. He said in his autobiography that his biggest career regret was not winning a title in Pittsburgh. 

5. 1983: Haynes missing piece to Raiders championship puzzle 

In Week 5 of the 1983 season, the Raiders suffered their first loss after a 38-37 shootout to Washington, the defending Super Bowl champs who set the NFL single-season scoring record. Al Davis, the Raiders owner and general manager, responded by aggressively pursuing Mike Haynes, who was stuck in a contentious holdout with the Patriots. 

While Davis offered Haynes a way out of his situation, Haynes acknowledged decades later that joining the Raiders wasn't an easy decision. 

"I actually didn't like the Raiders at all," Haynes told CBS Sports in a 2020 interview. "I didn't like any other team except the Patriots. When Al Davis called, I actually had to think about it. The Raiders were the team where one of my teammates [receiver Darryl Stingley] was paralyzed. I had to think about all that. But I justified it because they had just moved from Oakland to L.A. I grew up in Los Angeles … In my head, I needed to do that to be open to going there. I told Mr. Davis I'd love to go there."

It ended up being a perfect fit for both parties. Haynes teamed up with Lester Hayes to form one of the best cornerback duos in NFL history. The duo shut down Hall of Fame receiver Steve Largent in the AFC title game, and in Super Bowl XVIII, they helped hold Washington's explosive offense to just nine points. The Raiders' 38-9 win remains one of the most surprising outcomes in Super Bowl history. 

Haynes played six more seasons with the Raiders, earning three Pro Bowls over that span. He was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1997. The Patriots, who received a 1984 first-round pick and a 1985 second-round pick, reached the Super Bowl in 1985. Irving Fryer, who was drafted using the 1984 first-round pick, played a key role in the Patriots' first AFC title. 

4. 2010: Seahawks acquire 'Beast Mode' from Bills

Despite rushing for over 1,000 yards in each of his first two seasons, Lynch was found to be expendable by the Bills midway through the 2010 season. Before the deadline, Buffalo traded Lynch to Seattle in exchange for a 2011 fourth-round pick and a 2012 fifth-round pick. 

Simply put, Lynch and the Seahawks were the perfect fit. After running over the defending champion Saints in the 2010 wild card round, Lynch earned Pro Bowl honors in each of his first four full seasons in Seattle. 

He was among Seattle's key figures during the team's Super Bowl run in 2013 and NFC Championship run in 2014. In six seasons with the Seahawks, Lynch rushed for 6,347 yards and 79 touchdowns during the regular season, plus 937 yards and nine scores in 11 postseason games. 

3. 2022: 49ers land Christian McCaffrey

McCaffrey was dealt to the 49ers in a blockbuster deal that landed the Panthers 2023 second-, third- and fourth-round picks, plus a fifth-rounder in 2024. The trade ended a six-year run in Carolina for McCaffrey, who was selected No. 8 overall in the 2017 NFL Draft. 

The deal paid immediate dividends for both McCaffrey and the 49ers, who were 3-3 at the time of the trade. San Francisco reached the NFC title game that year before injuries proved too much to overcome. In 2023, however, the 49ers reached the Super Bowl behind a banner year from McCaffrey, who won his first rushing title that season. San Francisco had the lead in overtime in that year's Super Bowl before falling victim to Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes.

McCaffrey has remained a highly productive player for the 49ers. This past Sunday, he broke Marshall Faulk's record for the most career touchdown receptions (37) for a running back in the Super Bowl era. 

2. 1987: Rams deal Eric Dickerson to Colts 

The Rams and Colts stunned the NFL when Indianapolis traded two players, three first-round picks and three second-round picks to Los Angeles in exchange for Dickerson, the league's reigning Offensive Player of the Year. In 1984, he became the first player in NFL history to rush for over 2,100 yards in a season. 

Dickerson led the Colts to the playoffs in 1987, their first playoff appearance since the franchise moved from Baltimore to Indianapolis in 1984. The following season, Dickerson led the NFL in rushing, then rushed for over 1,311 yards in 1989. 

The Rams, despite losing Dickerson, would make the playoffs in each of the next three seasons, which included a trip to the NFC Championship Game in 1989. 

The Buffalo Bills were also part of this trade, giving up several assets that included future high picks in exchange for future All-Pro linebacker Cornelius Bennett, who would help the Bills become the first team in NFL history to appear in four consecutive Super Bowls during the 1990s. 

1. 1989: Cowboys trade Herschel Walker in 'great train robbery' 

"I find out that we had just traded the only guy on our team that was really any good. And I couldn't believe it." 

Troy Aikman, needless to say, wasn't thrilled upon hearing the news that the Dallas Cowboys and new head coach Jimmy Johnson had traded their best player, running back Herschel Walker, to the Minnesota Vikings in exchange for a bounty of future draft picks. Walker, a former Heisman Trophy winner and 1,500-yard back the previous season, was leaving a team that would ultimately go 1-15 during Johnson's first season in Dallas. While the trade was widely unpopular at the time, Johnson was confident that it was the right thing to do. 

"One agent said it's the biggest trade he has ever seen in the NFL," Johnson said during a press conference following the trade, "and one owner said it's a great train robbery. Whatever it is, we're happy with it." 

The Cowboys used the picks to help build what would become one of the best rosters in NFL history. In 1990, they used their first pick from the trade to select Emmitt Smith, who would go on to become the NFL's all-time leading rusher. Over the following two drafts, the Cowboys selected future Pro Bowl defensive tackle Russell Maryland, perennial starting cornerback Kevin Smith, and future three-time All-Pro safety Darren Woodson. 

Along with several other acquisitions, the Cowboys went from NFL doormats to NFL champions. In 1992, just three years after pulling off the greatest deadline deal in league history, Dallas won the first of its three Super Bowls over four years.  

"I couldn't understand it at the time, but I'm glad they viewed it differently," Aikman said during an interview with NFL Films. "It certainly got us over the hump in a hurry."