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The Minnesota Vikings suffered a terrible blow to their roster earlier in the week as Teddy Bridgewater went down with a horrible injury that will almost certainly end his 2016 season. With Shaun Hill as the backup and undrafted rookie Joel Stave behind him, Minnesota was openly looking to upgrade the position, either at backup or even looking for a new starter.
Just as the NFL roster cuts deadline draws nearer, the Vikings made that move, trading for Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Sam Bradford, as first leaked by Denver Broncos defensive coordinator Wade Phillips in a now-deleted tweet:
Wade Phillips tweeted and then immediately deleted this (DM gone wrong?) pic.twitter.com/9dEhkjNeqo
— uSTADIUM (@uSTADIUM) September 3, 2016
The Vikings were clearly pretty desperate to upgrade from Shaun Hill as the team paid a steep price for Sam Bradford.
Source confirms: the #Vikings have traded for Sam Bradford. They gave up a 1st-round pick in 2017 and an additional pick in 2018.
— Tom Pelissero (@TomPelissero) September 3, 2016
This seems like an insane high price for the Vikings to pay. Bradford was previously traded from the Rams with a fifth round pick to the Eagles for Nick Foles, a fourth-round pick and a second-round pick. Obviously, the Vikings still believe Bradford has that kind of value.
Minnesota was expected to seriously compete for the NFC title this year, but that was put into question after Bridgewater’s injury. With the addition of Bradford, is the Vikings’ ship corrected? Only time will tell.