“This tops the Vikings-Cowboys Herschel Walker trade” – Controversial NFL show host drags anti-abortion Republican into Brittney Griner debate

In recent unrelated events, Brittney Griner thankfully escaped Russian detention and Herschel Walker lost a US Senate race in Georgia. However, NFL show host and provocateur Jason Whitlock found a way to bring them together.

Brittney Griner was detained in Russia on charges of possessing drugs. It was widely seen as a retribution by the Kremlin against the USA, especially in the backdrop of the ongoing war in Ukraine. They wanted to exact a price for her freedom, and they got it after negotiations with Washington. In return for her freedom, US President Joe Biden had to release Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout, who is also known as the "Merchant of Death". It was a tough pill to swallow for Paul Whelan and his family, with him being a former US Marine still stuck in Russia on separate espionage charges. Since his detention stems from a different matter, both former President Donald Trump and the incumbent President have failed to secure his release.

Jason Whitlock conflated this trade for an arms dealer here in the USA for the WNBA star as a trade worse than the Herschel Walker trade.

What does the Herschel Walker trade have to do with Brittney Griner's release?

On the face of it, people might wonder what Brittney Griner's release has to do with Herschel Walker's NFL trade. And truthfully, there seems to be none.

Jason Whitlock certainly disagreed with that assessment. Herschel Walker, before he was the Republican Senate candidate from Georgia this year, was a star football player. He played in the NFL with many teams, starting with the Dallas Cowboys. He was traded to the Minnesota Vikings in the 1989 season.

The Cowboys were coming off a 1-15 season when they traded their star player in exchange for a glut of draft picks. The Vikings believed that Walker would make them Super Bowl contenders. Instead, Dallas used those draft picks wisely to create a team that would win three Super Bowls in the 1990s. Minnesota, meanwhile, would win none. The Herschel Walker trade, the largest in NFL history, is usually a parlance for conveying a particularly bad trade that benefits one party more than the other. Jason Whitlock seemed to imply that Russia won this trade over the USA.

It was surprising that he simultaneously chose to diss Walker, whose general political position on many issues, including abortion, aligns with Whitlock's. While who gets more out of the deal is debatable, it is not something that should be at the forefront of people's thoughts now. Brittney Griner is home and that is something for everyone to celebrate.