NFL fans everywhere woke up Saturday morning shocked to hear the Vikings traded for Sam Bradford.
Final terms: A #Vikings 1st rounder n 2017 and a 4th rounder for #Eagles QB Sam Bradford.
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) September 3, 2016
For most Vikings fans, it wasn’t the good kind of surprise.
#Vikings give up 1st & 4th round picks in shocking trade for Sam Bradford. What do you think of it? #GradeTheTrade
— Best NFL Polls (@Best_NFL_Polls) September 3, 2016
To understand why the Vikings would give up so much precious draft capital for a stop-gap, win-now solution at quarterback, we need to take a step back and understand where they are as a franchise.
Since the team’s inception in 1959, the Vikings have never won a Super Bowl.
They took home the NFC North division crown last year for the first time since Percy Harvin took home Offensive Rookie of the Year honors in 2009. Would an even better season in 2016 end with the Vikings’ first ever Lombardi Trophy?
The momentum and confidence has been building in Minnesota. The Vikings are a young team on the rise. They have quietly built out a talented roster through years of solid drafts. Just take a look at a few of the players they have drafted since Rick Spielman became general manager in 2012.
2012: Matt Kalil (Pro Bowl), Harrison Smith (Pro Bowl), Blair Walsh (Pro Bowl)
2013: Shariff Floyd (Starter), Xavier Rhodes (Starter), Cordarrelle Patterson (Pro Bowl [as Return Specialist])
2014: Anthony Barr (Starter), Teddy Bridgewater (Starter),
2015: Eric Kendricks (Starter), Steffon Diggs (Starter)
2016: Laquon Treadwell (TBD), Mackensie Alexander (TBD)
The Vikings’ team website did a great job highlighting the 2016 draft class in this article (see the Vikings’ entire draft history here). It is still too early to say, but it definitely looks like Spielman, Zimmer and Co. nailed the draft again this year.
Which NFC North team had the best draft? #BearsDraft #VikingsDraft #LionsDraft #PackersDraft
— Best NFL Polls (@Best_NFL_Polls) April 30, 2016
Despite their 11-5 record last year, however, the Vikings offense was a work in progress. They ended the year as the fourth-worst unit in the league. But with All-Pro running back Adrian Peterson coming off another strong season (1485 yards and 11 touchdowns) and talented young players contributing on both sides of the ball, it looked like the Vikings were in position to build on their NFC North champion season.
Which offense in the bottom 10 (total yards) of the #NFL in 2015 will make the leap to the top 10 in 2016? #NFLPolls
— Best NFL Polls (@Best_NFL_Polls) May 5, 2016
This offseason, the Vikings offense was definitely trending up, with a lot of key pieces in place and Teddy Bridgewater looking poised and better than ever. That is, until he suffered a gruesome knee injury in practice earlier this week.
With the Vikings losing Teddy B for season to a gruesome knee injury, how much of a step back will the offense take?
— Best NFL Polls (@Best_NFL_Polls) September 1, 2016
Via A.J. Perez of USA Today, Armin Tehrany explained that this was not just any ACL tear: “This isn’t the typical ACL repair from a non-contact injury, where all you have to worry about is making the knee stable. With a knee dislocation, you have to worry about the loss of function in the injured knee for the rest of the patient’s life.” Although the Vikings have announced that “there appears to be no nerve or arterial damage” and Teddy seems to be in positive spirits, the road to recovery will be long. A typical ACL recovery takes approximately 9 months. Players like Tyrann Mathieu, Carson Palmer and teammate Adrian Peterson have come back in about 9 months looking as explosive as before the injury. But with Tedddy’s injury being a dislocated knee, a complete ACL tear and other structural damage, there is no guarantee that Bridgewater will return 9 months later as the same player he was in last week’s preseason game.
We knew that the Vikings would have to at least consider some trade options to replace Bridgewater. It’s just that no one thought Sam Bradford was a trade option.
Which veteran QB should the Vikings try to trade for to compete for starting job? #VikingsNation #PrayForTeddy
— Best NFL Polls (@Best_NFL_Polls) September 1, 2016
Now, a first-round pick this year and a fourth-round pick next year certainly sounds like a steep price to pay for an underachieving interim quarterback–especially considering the Vikings’ recent success in drafting impact players. But through the lens of the Vikings’ front office, who may be hearing that Teddy’s full recovery is not insured, those draft picks may be the price they inevitably had to pay to have a viable plan at quarterback for not only this season but possibly into next season as well.
The Vikings have a lot of pieces in place to make a playoff run this season. With a strong running game and a top-5 defense (#5 in points allowed in 2015), the Vikings have the same formula in place as the Super Bowl winning 2015 Broncos, 2013 Seahawks and 2000 Ravens. Bradford won’t be asked to sling it down the field 30-40 times a game. He won’t be asked to break games wide open.
We’ll see if he can prove he is worth what the Vikings gave up and do enough to take the team to where they hoped to be this season with Teddy–the Super Bowl.
(Photo Credit: Adam Bettcher/Getty Images)