Minnesota Vikings and Eagles Enjoy Win-Win Trade
The Minnesota Vikings are gearing up to take on the Philadelphia Eagles in one of 2016’s most intriguing match ups. Perhaps the most interesting story line is the Sam Bradford trade.
The Minnesota Vikings traded a 2017 first round and a 2018 conditional fourth round pick to the Eagles for Sam Bradford. The Eagles started the number two overall pick, Carson Wentz at quarterback, blasted off to a 3-0 start and received two valuable draft picks while dumping a heavy salary.
The Minnesota Vikings got Sam Braford, who is playing like a top-five quarterback, and blasted off to a 5-0 start. Meanwhile, GM Rick Spielman has proven acumen in selecting late round picks like Danielle Hunter and Stefon Diggs.
Could this be the best win-win trade ever?
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At the beginning of this season, the Eagles appeared to be in rebuild mode. GM Howie Roseman processed the undo Chip Kelly campaign, and started a rookie quarterback who missed the majority of the preseason with an injury.
The Vikings opted to start Shaun Hill while cramming a complex Norv Turner playbook into a quarterback who had never met his potential throughout his career.
Facts aside, a sure moment of hopelessness haunted Vikings fans and personnel when Teddy Bridgewater went down. Rumors emerged about the Vikings picking up Mike Glennon from Tampa Bay, Geno Smith from the Jets and even the other Eagles quarterback, Chase Daniel. Seemingly moments after saying he wouldn’t trade away the future, Spielman traded two valuable draft picks to acquire Bradford.
Mixtures of hope, doubt and anger swirled off of Lake Superior’s shores after the Vikings made what turned out to be a season-saving move. Sure enough, Sam Bradford has played mistake-free, winning football.
Sam Bradford has thrown six touchdowns, zero interceptions and has a 109.7 passer rating–the second best in the league. Bradford also has two years on his contract, so if Teddy Bridgewater needs any additional recovery time, Bradford will still be in Minnesota. The quarterback situation suddenly became very low-risk in Minnesota.
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On the other side of the trade, with virtually no NFL preseason experience, rookie Carson Wentz led the Eagles to an undefeated record heading into their bye week.
Just like Bradford, Wentz was supported by a great defense, but he has shown great athleticism and decision making despite having almost no talent around him (besides Jordan Matthews).
Wentz has thrown seven touchdowns, one interception and has a 99.9 passer rating. The Eagles clearly have their quarterback of the future as Wentz has shown veteran tendencies like calling plays at the line and studying the playbook in every moment of free time. Meanwhile, the Eagles got part of their future back. They traded several picks to get Wentz, and they got two draft picks back to start Wentz.
Although the Eagles haven’t been quite as successful as the Minnesota Vikings, they are still very much in the race for the NFC East. The Vikings are in the lead for the entire NFC and home field advantage just weeks after the season appeared at risk.
Next: Sam Bradford Will Shine vs Philadelphia Eagles
There is no doubt about it–the Vikings-Eagles trade will turn out to be one of the biggest win-win trades of all time.