Chargers Trade Banks, Get Nelson

The Chargers traded linebacker Chip Banks Tuesday and added a running back in separate deals that beat the National Football League’s trade deadline by less than half an hour.

The Chargers sent Banks, who has a history of drug problems, to the Indianapolis Colts in a conditional deal that will bring them at least one 1990 draft pick and maybe more, depending on how well the former USC linebacker performs in Indianapolis and whether he remains drug-free.

Banks, 30, recently completed a 90-day drug-treatment program in the San Diego area after having been arrested five times in the last 18 months on drug-related charges.

Charger owner Alex Spanos had agonized for weeks over whether to give Banks another chance with his team after he had publicly said that the five-time Pro Bowl player would never play for the Chargers again.

“I’ve never had this kind of pressure put on me,” Spanos said Tuesday.

Spanos finally said that he would allow Banks to return to the Chargers next season.

That apparently was not good enough for Banks, who informed the Chargers he wanted to play in 1989. They accommodated him by making the trade.

In the other deal, the Chargers acquired veteran Viking running back Darrin Nelson from Dallas for a fifth-round pick that the Cowboys immediately shipped to the Vikings as a condition of the multi-player deal that sent running back Herschel Walker to the Vikings last week.

Nelson, 30, refused to report to Dallas last week after the Walker trade and threatened to retire. But he told his agent, Tony Agnone, that there were certain teams he would play for if a trade could be arranged. The Chargers were one of those teams.

In addition, the Cowboys also traded holdout quarterback Steve Pelluer to the Kansas City Chiefs for a high draft choice in 1990 and 1991. The Cowboys also acquired running back Paul Palmer from the Detroit Lions for a 10th-round draft choce.

The Associated Press contributed to this story.