Friday night hints become Saturday's blockbuster Bradford trade

Friday night I was out at dinner, and ignoring my wife kicking me under the table, I tried to carry on a conversation with another couple, good friends, while texting with an AFC personnel guy.

"Rumblings around the league are Bradford to Vikings," he texted. "Not sure though."

This was worth several boots to the shin. I asked for detail, he said sources weren't the best.

"Vikings calling around, obviously," he texted. "Look at it this way – (Eagles) don't really want to pay Bradford next year, and they don't have a first-round pick. Plus they just drafted a QB No. 2 (overall). If you're not a Super Bowl team this year, why wouldn't you deal him?"

The texting went on – I can show you the bruises – the source telling me the Vikings were calling the Eagles and other teams.

In the end, I wasn't sure what to believe. The guy's logic was solid, but it still just seemed outlandish, and nobody was reporting this. I couldn't find anybody to verify. I settled for a couple tweets saying a source told me Vikings were calling around about QBs, and that they could be asking about Bradford. When Twitter reacted the way Twitter does, I quickly interjected that I didn't think it would happen, the Eagles have a plan to develop Carson Wentz, etc.

So, when national media began reporting the Eagles-Vikings trade, Bradford for first and fourth-round picks in 2017, around 10:30 a.m. Saturday, well, if it is possible to sigh and shake your head while going "Holy crap!" that was what I was doing.

Here is how I see it: Despite the ribs, Wentz showed a lot this summer. He can take the reins before the end of the season. Chase Daniel did not show a lot, but he can hold down the fort – guess Doug Pederson wasn't kidding about Daniel reminding him of himself – until Wentz is ready.

Given the draft resources the Eagles expended on Wentz, their ability to build around him over the next few years was limited. We knew they wanted to trade Bradford for a high pick after this season. Then, this week, something big happened: The Vikings, legit Super Bowl contenders, lost their starting quarterback, Teddy Bridgewater, to a terrible knee injury that probably will sideline him at least a calendar year.

That changed everything. Bradford, with a solid year behind him at the end of this season, assuming he stays healthy, still wasn't going to fetch more than a first and a fourth. So, why not now?

We've all been scratching our heads about how the Eagles were going to pull off this "win now while building for the future" business. I kept remarking on how I'd never covered a lame-duck starting quarterback. And now I won't have to.

Shed no tears for Bradford. He has Pat Shurmur in Minnesota, is a smart, adaptable guy, and gets what he wanted in May – a trade to a contender. Yes, Bridgewater will be back some day, but if Sam wins the Super Bowl before that, well, it's a harsh business, as Bradford knows better than anyone.

At the very least, Bradford gets a really, really strong platform from which to make his case for a longterm deal somewhere after this season.

However, the 2016 Eagles just went from the land of 9-7, 8-8, 7-9 to maybe 5-11. As Comcast's Jillian Mele tweeted, "Welcome to 1999."