By Kevin Durso, Sports Talk Philly editor 
On Saturday morning, news of the Eagles trade of Sam Bradford to the Minnesota Vikings for a 2017 first-round pick and a conditional 2018 fourth-round pick shook the NFL world. But little did we know that this had been in the works for some 48 hours before the news became official.
In Tuesday's MMQB, Sports Illustrated's Peter King presented an exclusive look inside trade negotiations between the two GMs and how the trade came to be.
The story of the trade begins on Tuesday afternoon as the Vikings saw franchise quarterback Teddy Bridgewater go down with a gruesome season-ending leg injury. From there, Vikings GM Rick Spielman starts working with his team on options to move forward at quarterback.
It was Wednesday night when Spielman contacted Howie Roseman about the prospects of a trade with any of the Eagles quarterbacks. Carson Wentz, the Eagles prized top pick this year, is obviously off the table on any negotiations, but with just 10 days remaining before the regular season begins, the Eagles seem content to move forward with Bradford, Chase Daniel and Wentz as the three quarterbacks. "It’d be very hard to do anything with any of them," Roseman tells Spielman.
Discussions continue on Thursday morning before the Eagles host the Jets in their final preseason game. Daniel is set to start that game with Bradford resting for the season opener and Wentz recovering from fractured ribs. If the Eagles are going to move anyone, the price is going to be steep. "Rick, this is going to be a premium," Roseman tells Spielman. As Roseman recounted to King, "it had to include their first-round pick in 2017, plus something else. I didn’t think they’d consider that. We talked about it, but I wasn’t thinking it was very serious."
The Eagles go on to win their preseason finale on Thursday, 14-6, over the Jets and the next day begin preparations for the final cuts. During this time, head coach Doug Pederson is forced to leave to be with his family. Pederson said on Monday that his father had passed away on Friday, which is why he had to leave for a few days. For now, negotiations remain where they were the night before: "I told Rick we were in the same place. I told him he’d have to knock us over," Roseman recalls.
At this time, Roseman makes his part of the offer in any deal. It has to include a first-round pick or talks are "useless." Given the situation of the coming days — between cuts, reducing the roster to 53 and Pederson leaving to be with family — Roseman had enough things to worry about than to go back-and-forth in negotiations with no progress.
By Friday afternoon, the Vikings first-round pick in 2017 is on the table and offered to the Eagles.
By the evening, the two sides have agreed to the first-round pick, but the Eagles want more in the deal, "better than a four in 2018," as Roseman notes. By the morning, the conditional pick is finalized — the 2018 fourth-round pick can become a second-round pick depending on the Vikings playoff results in 2016.
On Saturday morning, Roseman brings the trade to owner Jeffrey Lurie, who signs off on the deal. Roseman contacts Pederson to give him the news of the finalized trade as well. Pederson reaches out to Bradford to give him the news. The biggest deal of the 2016 season has come complete. The Eagles have a first-round pick back in their possession, the Vikings now have Sam Bradford and Carson Wentz is the Eagles starting quarterback.
A whirlwind 48 hours changed the whole look of the Eagles just like that. It essentially finished off an offseason that changed the guard — the Eagles really eliminated almost all notable parts of the Chip Kelly era — and started the Wentz era by naming him the starting quarterback.
After that kind of weekend insanity, buckle up for what is sure to be a crazy season.
