Vikings Trading For Sam Bradford

Simpleton

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See... the Vikings have that pretty new stadium, so they desperately need asses in the seats. This was most definitely a desperation move.
Yea that's probably a big part of it too. Idiots probably could've gotten Bradford for a 2nd and conditional 4th though.
 

NoDak

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Bridgewater's injury was pretty bad. Maybe they don't expect him to be back healthy next year. I still wouldn't have given a first for Bradford, but that might explain the one year rental thing.
 

townsend

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The craziest thing about this is that Bradford's been one of the most injury prone players in the league. He could easily wind up with Bridgewater on the IR in a few weeks.
 

dallen

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Fucking Vikings
 

Genghis Khan

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Interesting aside about Wentz in the aftermath of this trade:


While I was on the field at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis last Saturday waiting to co-host Quick Slants with Derrick Gunn before the Eagles-Colts preseason game, I watched Wentz go through a grueling 60-minute workout on the field. Wentz was inactive for the game with his rib injury, but for an hour he fired mid-range passes to David Watford, Cayleb Jones and Marcus Johnson, for an hour he rolled out and dropped back and moved around in an imaginary pocket. For an hour he looked every bit like an NFL quarterback. Howie Roseman watched much of that workout, and Doug Pederson, Frank Reich and John DeFilippo watched parts of it as well. Watching Wentz that evening you just felt you were watching something special. Hard to explain, and I understand that you’re not going to trade your starting quarterback because of a workout a rookie had. But something changed in the last few weeks. Roseman even talked about it Saturday, how far Wentz has come recently. Even while he was unable to play or practice, his stock rose inside the NovaCare Complex to the point where the Eagles were comfortable unloading Bradford. I have a hunch that grueling workout that left Wentz an exhausted sweaty mess on the same field where he impressed the Eagles so much six months earlier at the NFL Scouting Combine had some role in all this.


http://www.csnphilly.com/philadelphia-eagles/sam-bradford-eagles-vikings-trade-10-observations-carson-wentz
 

Jiggyfly

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Interesting aside about Wentz in the aftermath of this trade:


While I was on the field at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis last Saturday waiting to co-host Quick Slants with Derrick Gunn before the Eagles-Colts preseason game, I watched Wentz go through a grueling 60-minute workout on the field. Wentz was inactive for the game with his rib injury, but for an hour he fired mid-range passes to David Watford, Cayleb Jones and Marcus Johnson, for an hour he rolled out and dropped back and moved around in an imaginary pocket. For an hour he looked every bit like an NFL quarterback. Howie Roseman watched much of that workout, and Doug Pederson, Frank Reich and John DeFilippo watched parts of it as well. Watching Wentz that evening you just felt you were watching something special. Hard to explain, and I understand that you’re not going to trade your starting quarterback because of a workout a rookie had. But something changed in the last few weeks. Roseman even talked about it Saturday, how far Wentz has come recently. Even while he was unable to play or practice, his stock rose inside the NovaCare Complex to the point where the Eagles were comfortable unloading Bradford. I have a hunch that grueling workout that left Wentz an exhausted sweaty mess on the same field where he impressed the Eagles so much six months earlier at the NFL Scouting Combine had some role in all this.


http://www.csnphilly.com/philadelphia-eagles/sam-bradford-eagles-vikings-trade-10-observations-carson-wentz
:lol
 

Simpleton

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So despite not playing or practicing, "something has changed" and "his stock is soaring".

Got it.

I hope the Eagles enjoy watching this guy get rocked up for however long he lasts before injuring himself again.
 

Genghis Khan

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So despite not playing or practicing, "something has changed" and "his stock is soaring".

Got it.

I hope the Eagles enjoy watching this guy get rocked up for however long he lasts before injuring himself again.
It's definitely a little curious.

Throughout the predraft process, people were raving about Wentz's workouts. But funny enough, his actual games haven't seemed to jump out at anybody. His bowl game performance this year was meh. His senior bowl performance was meh (a game in which Dak excelled). His one preseason game was meh.

He even was reported to be unimpressive in his few training camp practices.

And further, he seems like he might be injury prone.

You know who that sounds at least a little like? Sam Bradford. :unsure
 

Simpleton

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It's definitely a little curious.

Throughout the predraft process, people were raving about Wentz's workouts. But funny enough, his actual games haven't seemed to jump out at anybody. His bowl game performance this year was meh. His senior bowl performance was meh (a game in which Dak excelled). His one preseason game was meh.

He even was reported to be unimpressive in his few training camp practices.

And further, he seems like he might be injury prone.

You know who that sounds at least a little like? Sam Bradford. :unsure
I think he was really good in the FCS title game considering the time he missed and the stakes of the game, but I get what you're saying.

The guy does all the right things, says all the right things, he looks the part, he has the big arm, he's book smart, he can run and he's athletic, but he's not a finished product by any means. He is not good at the little things that make QB's great, pocket presence, footwork, looking off defenders, processing information and going through reads quickly.

These are all things that can be improved on, and I really liked the idea of having him learn from Romo because some of those things are Romo's greatest strengths, but he just doesn't have it right now and you can't really blame him, he only attempted about 600 college passes.

I also think being book smart can be conflated with the ability to go through reads and make quick decisions. You can be the smartest guy in the room, understand the theory and structure of every single play, but on the field if your mind processes the information a half second too slow, you don't have shit. That half second to second is what makes the difference at the highest level and from what I've seen Wentz doesn't have it right now as he has a tendency to lock on/stare down targets.

And it may sound funny but I think the same argument that goes against Alabama players can be applied to Wentz. He was on a team that was in the middle of a dynasty with a great running game and defense, he was only asked to throw the ball 25ish times a game and often times off play-action/read-option. He won't have anything close to that kind of advantage in Philly.

Loved him as a developmental QB who could've improved on his weaknesses with Romo but this guy is in no way ready to play 12-16 games on a poor team.
 

boozeman

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How it went down from Peter King...

====
Inside the Trade that Could Reshape the 2016 Season

The two general managers recount all the action that led to the Eagles sending Sam Bradford to the Vikings for two draft picks the week before the season starts. Plus 10 takeaways from cutdown weekend and more


Tuesday

Spielman, 1:20 p.m. CT: I stand on the defensive side of the field, way in the back. I saw Teddy go down. He must have tripped, I thought. I walked over to where he was down, and I see players turning their heads away, shocked. Players were in shock. By the time I got there, maybe 15 seconds after he went down, our trainer, Eric Sugarman, and other trainers had his leg up and were getting it braced. They were tremendous. It might have been a dislocation, and from what they tell me, the first thing you’ve got to be concerned with is the nerve and the artery there, so you’ve got to get right on it. I didn’t know what to think. We got dealt a shocking blow. You try to digest it, but you think, ‘Ten, 11 days out from the season, and we lose our franchise quarterback. What do we do?’

Roseman: I was leaving our draft room and looked up at the TV and see on the crawl that Teddy Bridgewater got hurt. I didn’t know anything. I just felt for him, and for Rick. We’re pretty close.

Spielman: Zim [head coach Mike Zimmer] called off practice and had a team meeting, and then I called all our scouts together, and [assistant GM] George Paton, into a meeting. I told them what happened. Besides all their jaws dropping to the floor and being sick to your stomach, absolutely sick to your stomach … we had a job to do. I said to them: ‘This is what we’re getting paid to do, finding the best solution out of the worst-case scenario. And that’s what we’re going to do here.’ I got up on the white board and we sorted out the scenarios—guys on the street we might want, guys who might get cut, guys on teams that might have enough depth that they’d consider dealing one. Names and options. Then we all got to work watching tape and I started making calls. To be honest, there was no solution. No good solution.

Wednesday

Spielman: I made a bunch of calls. I am not gonna mention teams. But there was blood in the water, and teams knew it. The price was too high. I didn’t want to mortgage our future. Some teams asked for a first-round pick and a core young player. I can understand the pick. But we worked too hard over the past three years to put all that time and energy into drafting and developing a solid core of this team. I was taken aback who they were asking for. Players who’d been in the Pro Bowl. I mean, in the off-season, you’ve got time. There’s not blood in the water in the off-season. But now there was.

Saturday, 6:30 a.m., two NFL general managers and good friends on the phone, trying to finish a trade. The subject of sleep comes up. Neither Philadelphia’s Howie Roseman nor Minnesota’s Rick Spielman has had any of significance during the night, not since they’d last been on the phone five-and-a-half hours earlier.

“I’m staring at the ceiling, wide awake, at 2:30,” Roseman said to Spielman, “and [wife] Mindy says, ‘You okay?’ I said, ‘No, I’m not okay. We’re about to change a lot of lives here.’ ”

“Same thing with me,” Spielman said in return. “Couldn’t sleep. I was out at 4 a.m. walking the dogs.”

How long did it take to make the stunning deal of the year in pro football? Forty-eight hours. That’s the time from the first phone call from Spielman, in his office in Eden Prairie, Minn., to Roseman, about to engage his three boys in some baseball pitch-and-catch in his yard in Pennsylvania, just before dinner at home Wednesday evening, and the time it got very real and Spielman offered Minnesota’s first-round pick Friday evening. It was so surprising to Roseman that he said “it wasn’t even on my brain” Thursday night during the Eagles’ fourth preseason game.

A brief oral history of the Trade That Might Change This Season, from the two general managers:

He asked me then if we’d be open to trading one of our quarterbacks, and I said it’d be very hard to do anything with any of them.

Roseman: We had a home preseason game Thursday, so Wednesday was a good night at home, and my boys were waiting for me to get home so we could play catch in the yard. Right then, I look at my phone and it’s Rick, and of course I am on the phone again, and they’re following me around the yard. I think they wanted to throw the ball at my head. But Rick and I talked for 10 minutes and I said we’d have to talk Thursday. We’d seen each other in New York in the spring at a leadership conference at the Brooklyn Nets, with a couple of other GMs. He asked me then if we’d be open to trading one of our quarterbacks, and I said it’d be very hard to do anything with any of them.

Thursday

​Spielman: When we talked about this as a staff, we knew we had [backup] Shaun Hill, and we really like Shaun. But the worst-case scenario is Shaun comes in and runs the offense well and then Shaun gets hurt? Then what? And we could wait and see what comes off the waiver wire, but how significant is that player going to be? We were working a couple of things, but when I asked [tight ends coach] Pat Shurmur, who’d coached Sam twice, he knew how smart he was and what a great addition he would be to our team and our locker room. I watched every game Sam played last year, and the last three games, I thought he was playing as well as anyone I saw last year. I don’t think he’s ever been on a team with a top 10 rushing offense. With 28 [Adrian Peterson] in our backfield, playing at a high level, with the defense we have, Sam’s not gonna have to throw it 35 or 40 times every game. I know our coaches wanted him. Before we played our last preseason game, Zim wasn’t too worried about the game. He was worried about the quarterback. I talked to our ownership, and they said: ‘Be as aggressive as you have to be. Do what you have to do.’

Roseman, 8 p.m.: I’m not even thinking about it at the game. When we talked [earlier Thursday], I said to Rick, ‘Rick, this is going to be a premium.’ It had to include their first-round pick in 2017 [Philly had traded its 2017 in a package to be able to draft rookie quarterback Carson Wentz], plus something else. I didn’t think they’d consider that. We talked about it, but I wasn’t thinking it was very serious.

Friday

Roseman, 8 a.m.: I told Rick we were in the same place. I told him he’d have to knock us over.

Eagles coach Doug Pederson has left the team to be at the bedside of his gravely ill father.

Roseman: With all the roster decisions we’re having to make, and with Doug’s family situation, I just told Rick that unless we’re talking the one in ’17 and another first high pick, it’s useless to talk.

Late in the afternoon, Spielman offers the 2017 first-round pick.

​Spielman: That’s when I got more aggressive with Howie. I knew it would be a significant compensation, asking a team to give their starting quarterback eight days before the start of the season. I will do everything in my power to always give us the best chance to win, and it came down to—this is what we’re dealing with. I can’t change that. We have a good football team, a young football team. Parting with the one, I knew I still had eight picks next year, including two threes and two fours. What really was significant for us was the second year of the contract with Sam. No one knows how long it’s going to take Teddy to recover. I had one other thing going with another team on Friday, but we liked Sam a lot.

Roseman, 7 p.m.: We were settled on the one, but we wanted better than a four in 2018. We were giving up our starting quarterback, who we didn’t want to give up. So there was some negotiation that needed to be done that night.

Spielman, midnight: We were a little punch drunk by then. We got it done, basically, but we had to button it up in the morning.

Spielman agreed to make the fourth-round pick a three if the Vikings made the playoffs, and a two if they made the Super Bowl. Roseman still had to clear the deal with Pederson; they’d talk first thing Saturday.

Saturday

Roseman, 8 a.m.: I spoke with Coach Pederson, and we had a deal. I called Rick. Coach Pederson called Sam. I was thinking, ‘We’ve changed two teams today. We’ve changed a lot of lives.’

Spielman, 4 p.m.: Sam came in the building, and he seemed very happy. I told him, ‘Congratulations,’ and he said, ‘I’ve got to get to work.’ And he went and got going right away with [quarterbacks coach] Scott Turner.

Sunday

Neither Roseman nor Spielman sounded elated Sunday on the phone. They sounded more tired than happy.

Spielman, 1:30 p.m.: We are a better team today than we were yesterday. Mentally, I am completely drained. Not only dealing with this, but making decisions on the 53-man roster, watching tape on potential claims till 2 this morning, getting our practice squad lined up … [On Bradford:] I just know how he played the second half of last season, and I know he’s completely healthy, and I know this is the best running game by far that he’ll ever play with. At the end, this is what it comes down to: Did you do the best you possibly could do for your team? And we did the best we possibly could do. I think we put our team in the best possible position we can. Now we just see how it works out.

Roseman, 3:15 p.m.: Hopefully it works out great for the Vikings and great for us. But where it’s such a different scenario for us is it’s so different from the blueprint we established for our season. We’re getting powerful resources back, plus a lot of money in cap space to go out and get good players we didn’t have to help build a really good team. I believe our players will rally around our quarterbacks. If Carson [Wentz] plays, experience is a great teacher. Some guys played well right away—the Joe Flaccos, the Ben Roethlisbergers. But Peyton Manning, Troy Aikman, John Elway had their struggles. Eli [Manning] started his rookie year [and went 2-7]. There’s no one way. Whenever you play, you’re going to be learning on the job. But whatever happens, this will be a couple days we all remember when we look back on our careers.

* * *

The Norv Turner factor

In 1993, Troy Aikman tweaked a hamstring in a November game for Dallas. The next day, Cleveland coach Bill Belichick fired quarterback Bernie Kosar. Two days later, the Cowboys signed Kosar and, with Jason Garrett as the backup to Aikman, Dallas coaches got Kosar ready to play against the Cardinals. Kosar got ready, all right. Ten minutes into a 20-15 win over the Cards, Kosar relieved Garrett, and went on to complete 13 of 21 with one touchdown pass and no turnovers.

The Dallas offensive coordinator then? Norv Turner.

The Minnesota offensive coordinator now, 23 years later? Norv Turner.

I covered that story, and that game, for Sports Illustrated. I looked back at what I wrote Sunday. Kosar was programmed with 67 plays, all of which were typed neatly on his wristband. Turner would call down the play he wanted to tight ends coach Robert Ford, and Ford would signal the number to Kosar—for instance, holding up two fingers, then six, for play number 26 on the wristband—and Kosar would translate the number to a play, and make the call. Worked pretty well. Is that how Turner will do it with Sam Bradford? And will the Vikings rush Bradford into the opener against Tennessee? I don’t know. But Turner has a road map to do it. He’s done it before, with a shorter turnaround. Kosar was signed five days before he played 50 minutes. Bradford was acquired eight days before the game in Nashville.

After the game, sitting having a celebratory beer with head coach Jimmy Johnson, Turner was pretty matter-of-fact about getting the job done with Kosar. “I'm a fan just like anybody, and I loved working with Bernie this week,” Turner said that day. “This was a once-in-a-lifetime deal. How often do you pick up a championship quarterback in mid-week and get him ready to play the next game?”

Maybe it’s twice in a lifetime. We’ll see.
 

Genghis Khan

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NFL: Dallas Cowboys winners, Minnesota Vikings losers in QB Carousel

By Randy Gurzi/FanSided via NFL Spin Zone
Sep 4, 2016 at 9:09a ET



The Dallas Cowboys did much better at addressing their quarterback needs than the Minnesota Vikings did this weekend as they spent less and got more

This opinion won’t be popular, but the Dallas Cowboys did far better in their search for quarterback help than the Minnesota Vikings did on Saturday. Both teams are trying to overcome injuries to their starters, and both filled holes. However, Dallas was patient and got what they wanted whereas Minnesota panicked and paid a premium for a sub-par player.

Of course, both teams situations weren’t identical. However, their approaches to solving the issue were as different as the cities the teams reside in.

Dallas hopes to have starter Tony Romo back in six weeks or so. They will do as many teams should in the meantime, turn to their number two guy. For the Cowboys, that’s rookie Dak Prescott.

The fourth-round pick wowed fans during the preseason with his poise, accuracy, and mobility. He looked the part of a seasoned veteran as he marched Dallas up and down the field week-in and week-out despite experiencing the league for the first time. He proved Dallas right for not panicking to over pay for a quarterback in the offseason. The Cowboys then doubled down on that approach after realizing Jameill Showers wasn’t ready to back up Prescott.

Rather than give the Cleveland Browns a premium pick for a 37-year-old Josh McCown, they looked elsewhere. They again avoided overpaying for a Browns cast off as they didn’t give Austin Davis what he wanted.

Instead, they waited until the Denver Broncos cut Mark Sanchez, a former fifth-overall selection. That’s when they pounced. Dallas was able to get a guy with 72 regular season and eight postseason starts in the NFL. They were also able to get him without giving up any assets at all.

Clearly these were two vastly different approaches in how to operate in this type of scrambling situation. Let’s break down why the Vikings dropped the ball and the Cowboys put themselves in a nice position.


Aug 18, 2016; Pittsburgh, PA, USA; Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Sam Bradford (7) throws a pass against the Pittsburgh Steelers during the first quarter of their game at Heinz Field. Mandatory Credit: Jason Bridge-USA TODAY Sports

Where the Vikings Went Wrong

In contrast, Minnesota needed someone to replace their starter Teddy Bridgewater, who will miss the whole season due to severe knee injuries. There’s also fear he could be a different player all together when he does return.

With that in mind, they were hesitant to do what Dallas did: hand the team to their backup. Minnesota employs 36-year old journeyman Shaun Hill, but they obviously didn’t trust him.

Why teams keep a backup they don’t trust makes no sense, but since Minnesota did—and it led to a terrible move. The Vikings sent a first round selection in 2017, and a conditional fourth round pick in 2018 to the Philadelphia Eagles for Sam Bradford.

This is the same quarterback who caused two franchises to sell the farm to get a real quarterback. After the Rams dumped Bradford on Philly, they traded a handful of picks this season to select Jared Goff. After Philly relied on Bradford for a season, they traded just as much to get Carson Wentz.

Sure, NFL media members love Bradford for some reason. They also despise Sanchez. Because of that, many will think the Vikings did well here and Dallas didn’t. However, nothing could be further from the truth.


Aug 20, 2016; Denver, CO, USA; Denver Broncos quarterback Mark Sanchez (6) looks to pass in the third quarter against the San Francisco 49ers at Sports Authority Field at Mile High. Mandatory Credit: Isaiah J. Downing-USA TODAY Sports

Dallas Did it Better

Two NFL teams showed what they think of Bradford by doing all they could to rid themselves of his mediocrity. In his career, the former first-overall pick has never thrown for more than 3,725 yards in a season. He also has never had more than 21 touchdown passes in a season, and only hit the 20 mark once (2012).

What he has done is produce losing seasons and gotten injured. In 2015 Philly was such a disappointment that it seemed like everyone got fired, or cut. What people forget: that was the best season ever for Bradford. This was the only time he ever even reached .500 as a starter as he won seven and lost seven of his 14 starts. He tossed his career high in yards in a high-octane offense, but was still among the lowest producers in the NFL. Oh, and Bradford has never even sniffed the playoffs.

Yet, people keep heaping praise on the big-time bust. Bradford is one of the worst first-overall picks ever. Minnesota gave up a chance to get a young player with upside in 2017 for what should be a one-year stop gap.

Dallas on the other hand gave up nothing for a guy who has produced two winning seasons, two seasons of .500 and just two losing seasons as a starter (one losing season came last year filling in for Bradford in Philadelphia when he went 0-2). Sanchez also has a 4-2 record in the playoffs and had back-to-back trips to the AFC Championship games in 2009 and 2010 with the New York Jets.

Also, Dallas is only going to need Sanchez if something should happen to Dak Prescott. Minnesota on the other hand is pinning their hopes and mortgaged next season’s top pick for a proven bust. Dallas was the team here that won with the quarterback carousel on cut day in the NFL. Minnesota messed up big time. Don’t buy the lies that it went any other way.
 

Plan9Misfit

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The bigger kick to the dick for Vikings fans is that Spielman not only shit the bed hy significantly overpaying to get Bradford, but he isn't even the Week 1 starter.
 

dallen

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The bigger kick to the dick for Vikings fans is that Spielman not only shit the bed hy significantly overpaying to get Bradford, but he isn't even the Week 1 starter.
1st round pick for a 1 season backup QB. It's like Spielman is trying to make Jerry look smart or something
 

Genghis Khan

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1st round pick for a 1 season backup QB. It's like Spielman is trying to make Jerry look smart or something
The only mitigating factor to that is Bridgewater might be out more than a year so they might need Bradford for 2 years. Still a dumb trade.
 
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