After Vikings General Manager Rick Spielman and Howie Roseman made a trade Saturday morning to send quarterback [Sam Bradford to Minnesota, Sports Illustrated's **Peter King spoke to both of them*** *about the process.
Roseman and Spielman engaged in a series of discussions in the 48 hours after Teddy Bridgewater's season-ending knee injury. Spielman explained that he saw Bradford as a good fit for the Vikings considering the situation.
"When I asked [tight ends coach] Pat Shurmur, who'd coached Sam twice, he knew how smart [Sam] was and what a great addition he would be to our team and our locker room," Spielman told King. "I watched every game Sam played last year, and the last three games, I thought he was playing as well as anyone I saw last year
"I don't think he's ever been on a team with a top 10 rushing offense," Spielman added.
The Vikings and Eagles both had a game Thursday night. Spielman said things got "more aggressive with Roseman" Friday morning and he understood that he was "asking for a team's starting quarterback" just over a week before the regular season kicked off.
"I will do everything in my power to always give us the best chance to win, and it came down to — this is what we're dealing with. I can't change that," Spielman told King. "We have a good football team, a young football team. Parting with the one, I knew I still had eight picks next year, including two threes and two fours. What really was significant for us was the second year of the contract with Sam. No one knows how long it's going to take Teddy to recover. I had one other thing going with another team on Friday, but we liked Sam a lot."
Roseman said it was a tough deal to make.
"I was thinking, 'We've changed two teams today. We've changed a lot of lives,' " Roseman told King.
It was a long and mentally exhausting process, but Spielman said it's a decision he feels confident about in helping the Vikings be as successful as they can be. He said Bradford played a strong second half of the 2015 season, is healthy and is playing with the best running game he's experienced in his career.
"At the end, this is what it comes down to: Did you do the best you possibly could do for your team? And we did the best we possibly could do," Spielman told King. "I think we put our team in the best possible position we can. Now we just see how it works out."
NFL.com: Sam Bradford trade gives Vikings equal shot at NFC North title
Since the Vikings acquired Bradford on* *Saturday, buzz around the league has centered around the quarterback and what he brings to the table for Minnesota. *Around the NFL *writer Marc Sessler said the transaction proves the **Vikings gumption and unwillingness to give up** after losing Bridgewater for the season. Sessler wrote:
If we've learned anything about [Vikings Head Coach] Mike Zimmer and his team, the concept of lying down isn't part of this regime's operation manual.
Sessler said the Vikings wouldn't have made the trade if they didn't see themselves as a Super Bowl contender and that Minnesota is "the best NFL team Bradford has ever played for."
According to Sessler, combining Bradford with pieces already in place – a strong defense, young receiving corps and Adrian Peterson – keeps Minnesota in the division title hunt.
The Vikings were a playoff team with Teddy – with a chance for much more – and Bradford gives them an equal shot to win the NFC North.
While some have criticized the move, Sessler said it's a moot point.
The Vikings don't care what you think about this trade. Zimmer, especially, isn't interested in mass-market opinions on Bradford.
[…]
Minnesota's window to do damage in the NFC is wide open – and Saturday's trade tells us that swapping a few picks in exchange for [postseason] dreams is entirely worth it to [the Vikings] and their no-nonsense leader.
