Welcome to the Carson Wentz Era.
Look, it's not exactly a secret that I was a Sam Bradford fan. I still think he got a raw deal - both from the Eagles and the fans.
But he's now in Minnesota, where I think it is not out of the question that he could lead a very talented Vikings team to the Super Bowl.
I also noted that now that the deal is done, I had to concur that it would have been very hard for Howie Roseman to turn down the offer the Vikings were making. Or that he was holding them up for. It's obvious after Teddy Bridgewater went down, the Vikings were in semi-panic mode. Roseman played it perfectly, extracting a No. 1 pick from the Vikes to replace the one he shipped to the Browns so the Birds could move up and take Wentz with the No. 2 pick in the draft. Of course, that pick from the Vikings is likely to be a lot closer to the bottom of the first round than the Browns' pick.
Speaking of the Browns, they will be at the Linc Sunday to kick off the season.
And it will be Carson Wentz staring across the line of scrimmage at them.
Count this as another one Roseman and Doug Pederson got right.
No one wants to see Chase Daniel. We all knew that Sam Bradford was not the future of this team. That became obvious after Roseman sent a lot of picks - picks that could have been used to surround Bradford with more talent - to the Browns to snatch Wentz.
Bradford said he wanted a trade to a contender, even though Roseman and Pederson said they were committed to him as their starter this year. Bradford stayed away from some off-season workouts, but showed up at camp and had a very good preseason.
Still, he was only going to be the starter on this team for another year at best. That's why the Eagle signed him to that two-year deal, with one year guaranteed.
When Bridgewater's knee exploded, Bradford got his wish, albeit a lot later than anyone would have thought.
It's not every day and NFL team trades its starting quarterback a week before the opener.
Wentz now becomes the first rookie QB in Eagles history to start on opening day.
Before you panic, I might remind that in the same history the Eagles have won exactly 0 Super Bowls. They've only played in two.
Roseman and Pederson really had nothing to lose.
Perhaps non one knows this better than Pederson. Back in 1999, he was Chase Daniel. Pederson was anointed the starter while first-round pick Donovan McNabb was groomed to the "the guy." McNabb was starting after just a few weeks.
No one needed to see a sequel.
Everyone knows this is going to be Wentz's team. The Eagles just moved up the process by announcing yesterday that Wentz would be their starter on Sunday.
Is he ready? Probably not? Does it make much difference? Not really.
It probably buys Pederson a little time. If the Birds head to the locker room at halftime trailing the Browns, Wentz and Pederson likely will not be serenaded by a cascade of boos. I'm not sure the same could be said if Daniel was behind center.
So let the Carson Wentz Era begin.
Sam, we hardly knew ye.
Good luck in Minnesota.
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