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The Minnesota Vikings and Philadelphia Eagles agree on a deal that sends Sam Bradford up north.
If you didn’t think Sam Bradford would finish the 2016 season as the Philadelphia Eagles starting quarterback, congratulations – you were right. On Saturday, the Eagles traded away Bradford and got some nice compensation in exchange.
So final breakdown is this: For Sam Bradford, Eagles get a first-round pick in 2017 and a conditional 4th in 2018.
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) September 3, 2016
Bradford always seems to be involved in these crazy trades. After being the first-overall selection in the 2010 draft by the St. Louis Rams, he was traded to Philadelphia last year. And the cost wasn’t cheap for them either. Besides swapping QBs with the Rams and giving them Nick Foles, the Eagles also had to give up a second-round pick as well as a fourth-round pick (the Eagles did get a fifth-round pick from the Rams). This left a lot of people scratching their heads wondering what people saw in Bradford for Philadelphia to give up so much to get him. Well, it looks like the Eagles aren’t the only team that values him.
This is a big change for two NFL teams who have a lot of questions at the quarterback position. For the Minnesota Vikings, this gives them a veteran player who can drive the bus after losing Teddy Bridgewater to a season-ending knee injury. Bradford wasn’t terrible last years as he completed 65% of his passes and threw for 3,725 yards with 19 touchdowns and 14 interceptions. Mike Zimmer’s team was primed to make a serious run in the NFC with a strong defense and talented running game that would be running behind a revamped offensive line. Expectations were high in Minnesota. With Bradford, the Vikings can attempt to stay the course and let their collective talent lead the way for him.
While the Cowboys will face Minnesota this season and they are one of the stronger NFC teams, the more interesting portion of the deal is what happens to Philadelphia. The Eagles had invested quite a bit at the quarterback position this offseason as they added an expensive backup in Chase Daniel and gave up a lot of draft stock to acquire Carson Wentz, the number two pick in the 2016 draft. The team put too many eggs in this basket, but now it appears one of those eggs just paid off handsomely for them. Being able to get a first-round pick for Bradford is a good deal for the Eagles.
While this is a good move for their future, the question begs – how does this look for them now? One of the luxuries of taking Wentz in the draft is that they could be patient with him and let him develop. With Bradford out of the mix, Wentz moves up the depth chart. And it might not take too much to overthrow Chase Daniel as he has very limited experience as a starting quarterback. There are a lot of unknowns here.
Having a reliable quarterback is crucial in this league. Cowboys’ fans experienced this first hand. Clearly, the Vikings and Eagles both don’t want to face similar atrocities so they are doing everything they can to shore up the position. It will be interesting to see how this all plays out.
Who do you think came out on top in this trade? What type of impact does this trade have to their 2016 season?
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