PHILADELPHIA (973espn.com) - The Carson Wentz era is set to arrive sooner than expected.

The Philadelphia Eagles have traded quarterback Sam Bradford to a desperate Minnesota Vikings team for a 2017 first-round pick and a fourth-round selection in 2018.

The Vikings, who consider themselves a legitimate Super Bowl contender, suffered a devastating loss last week when their starter, Teddy Bridgewater, was lost for the season with a catastrophic, non-contact knee injury at practice, which included both a dislocation and a torn ACL.

Minnesota general manager Rick Spielman had indicated he would not mortgage the Vikings' future in looking for a replacement and was content to go with veteran backup Shaun Hill, ironically Bradford’s former caddie in St. Louis.

As for Philadelphia, meanwhile, this likely means Chase Daniel is your starter Week 1 against Cleveland and the timetable for Carson Wentz, the No. 2 overall pick in April’s draft, getting on the field moves up dramatically.

The Eagles gave Bradford a new two-year deal back in March, guaranteeing him $22 million and have already paid out half of that. They also signed Daniel because he was familiar with Doug Pederson’s offense to a three-year $21 million contract in free agency.

Both deals were struck before the Eagles moved up the draft board and sent five picks to Cleveland for the rights to draft Wentz.

From that point, the long-term plan was always Wentz as the face of the franchise with the hope that putting him in bubble wrap for a year would help with the leap from the FCS level to the pros, and also enable Bradford to play well enough in a lame-duck year to bring back significant compensation.

If the idea was to sell high, however, and it always is, Howie Roseman was very prudent to move Bradford right now to ensure maximum return even if it costs the organization a few wins in 2016.

-John McMullen covers the Eagles and the NFL for 973espn.com. You can reach him at jmcmullen44@gmail.com or on Twitter @JFMcMullen

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