The Vikings, who still believe a Lombardi Trophy is within their grasp this season, have moved swiftly and boldly to replace Teddy Bridgewater.
Four days after their starting quarterback was lost to a season-ending knee injury, the reigning NFC North champs on Saturday acquired Sam Bradford in a stunning trade with the Philadelphia Eagles.
"Very rarely do you have a starting quarterback go down a week before the season," General Manager Rick Spielman said. "And I think as we went through this process and spoke with all the teams … we felt this was a very rare and unique opportunity to add a quarterback of Sam's caliber."
During an injury-prone six-year NFL career, Bradford has not lived up to the billing of being the top pick in the 2010 draft. But the 28-year-old, who has now been traded twice in the past 18 months, is a clear upgrade over Shaun Hill, the 36-year-old who was slated to be Bridgewater's top backup in 2016.
The addition of Bradford, who is under contract through 2017, gives the Vikings a starting-caliber quarterback for this season and an insurance policy in the event that Bridgewater is not ready to return from his devastating injury by the start of next season.
But the Vikings had to pay a steep price to acquire him.
Before Thursday night's preseason finale, Spielman insisted the Vikings were not desperate and said they would not make a move that would "hurt us going into the future." Less than 48 hours later, he traded their 2017 first-round pick and a conditional pick in 2018 that can become a second-rounder to get Bradford.
"We did not mortgage the future in my mind," Spielman said after the trade, pointing out that the Vikings still have eight 2017 draft picks.