Now that Bradford is on his way to Minnesota, all eyes in Philadelphia turn to who will end up starting for the Eagles under center when the season begins a week from Sunday. He must have felt Hill was not the answer at QB for the Vikings this year, after his team’s expected starting passer, rapidly improving third-year Teddy Bridgewater, went down for the year on Tuesday with that gruesome dislocated knee, torn ACL and other internal knee damage. The Vikings have enough lower round picks to get back into first if they need it, but more than anything, they trust Mike Zimmer can overcome Bridgewater’s injury and get Minnesota back in the playoffs. Daniel signed with the Eagles after four years with the Chiefs.
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The Vikings acquired Bradford for a 2017 first round pick as well as a conditional fourth rounder for 2018. Following the Wentz trade, there was a lot of talk about how the Eagles “mortgaged their future” in order to draft the young quarterback.
When Philadelphia Eagles vice president of football operations Howie Roseman stepped into the auditorium at NovaCare Complex on Saturday, he didn’t face questions about most of the agonizing decisions he made to finalize an initial 53-man roster.
“Just excited to be here right now, anxious to get into the playbook and start learning the offense”, Bradford said of the move. Shurmur was Philadelphia’s offensive coordinator in 2015 and Bradford’s OC his rookie season with the Rams. He needed to be bowled over with an offer for his veteran starter, and after Teddy Bridgewater’s serious knee injury threw a major wrench into the Minnesota Vikings’ 2016 plans, general manager Rick Spielman was willing to pay the required bounty.
Bradford’s exit means second-string quarterback Chase Daniel will start the upcoming regular season as the Eagles’ starting quarterback.
He lauded Wentz’s “attention to detail, the way he goes about his business”, though fans saw him only briefly in the first preseason game, in which Wentz suffered a hairline fracture of his ribs.
The Vikings won the NFC North last season and acquiring Bradford means they clearly think they will compete again. This could be the situation that Bradford has been looking for since he entered the league, and the Vikings could trade him after this season for more than they gave up.
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Bradford passed up a chance to test free agency and signed a two-year, $36 million (U.S.) contract with $22 million guaranteed in March. That was the plan, at least, with Bradford at quarterback. The reason things for Bradford will not change is because he still has a below average receiving core. Thanks to the Sam Bradford trade, however, the Eagles are back in the first. While Daniel has been the team’s backup quarterback since his arrival, reports surfaced on Saturday that the Eagles are planning to start Wentz in Week 1 (see story). With Bradford things get interesting.
