Dallas traded linebacker and long snapper Steve DeOssie to…

The legacy TradeVerdicts row correctly connected Steve DeOssie with the 1990 sixth-round selection that became No. 163, but it incorrectly implied that Dallas itself selected Derrick Walker and added unsupported undisclosed-consideration placeholders. Contemporary UPI reporting on June 2, 1989 says Dallas traded DeOssie to the Giants for a draft choice, and Pro Sports Transactions identifies that compensation as New York's 1990 sixth-round pick, No. 163. The NFL transaction log also records the Cowboys-to-Giants trade in June, although its ledger dates the posting June 5 rather than the June 2 contemporaneous report. Dallas later moved the acquired pick before it was exercised. Official Cowboys draft-trade history shows that on April 22, 1990 Dallas sent three sixth-round choices — Nos. 138, 143 and the Giants-derived No. 163 — to San Diego for a 1991 third-round selection. San Diego then used No. 163 on tight end Derrick Walker. Walker's productive NFL career therefore belongs to the Chargers' side of that later trade, not as a direct Dallas return from DeOssie. The Cowboys ultimately used the future third-round pick on linebacker Godfrey Myles at No. 62 in 1991. Myles became a useful Dallas player, appearing in 76 games with 11 starts through 1996, but the DeOssie pick was only one of three sixth-round assets used to obtain that selection. TradeVerdicts therefore gives the original No. 163 pick partial downstream credit rather than assigning Myles' entire career to this one transaction. New York received the clearer direct return. The Giants' 1992 media guide describes DeOssie as a valuable addition after the 1989 trade. He played nine games in 1989 despite a stress fracture, then appeared in all 16 games during the 1990 Super Bowl season and started 13 at inside linebacker, finishing with 62 tackles while continuing as the long snapper and a short-yardage defender. NFL career logs show 61 regular-season Giants appearances from 1989 through the first half of 1993. That is substantial direct value from a sixth-round asset. Dallas also received useful draft capital and later leveraged it as part of a package that produced a contributor, so this was not a poor return. The stronger direct value still belongs to New York: the Giants receive a B+ for acquiring a versatile multi-season contributor and championship-season starter, while Dallas receives a C+ for converting DeOssie into a useful sixth-round asset that later helped facilitate another trade. Confidence is high because the transaction, pick identity, later pick movement and DeOssie's Giants production are all well documented.