Former Vikings GM Mike Lynn dead at 76

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MINNEAPOLIS, July 22 (UPI) -- Former Minnesota Vikings general manager Mike Lynn died this weekend at the age of 76, his son Robert Lynn said.

The elder Lynn spent 16 years as GM of the Vikings, leading the team, to 10 playoff appearances and helping drive the construction of the Metrodome.

He died after wrestling with various health issues, his son said.

"Anyone connected to the league, when he was with the league, will tell you he was one of the best general managers the league ever had," Robert Lynn told the St. Paul (Minn.) Pioneer-Press. "He did a lot for the league aside from being general manager of the Vikings."

The newspaper said Lynn was an ambitious manager of talent who pulled off trades for high-profile players such as Cris Carter and Ahmad Rashad. He was best known for a blockbuster deal in 1989 that brought running back Herschel Walker to Minnesota in exchange for three first-round draft picks.

"He was smart money-wise," former Viking Chuck Foreman told the Pioneer-Press. "He might have been a little before his time as far as being in charge of the team from a business standpoint but not having a lot of football knowledge."