Well, they did it. The Philadelphia Eagles, rumored to be eyeing a move up into the most expensive zip code in the 2016 NFL Draft, brought out the boxes and the packing tape and somehow managed to relocate to the second-overall pick (if you're keeping score at home, that's two first round trades for GM/not GM Howie Roseman, the first from No. 13 to No. 8, and then from No. 8 to No. 2). The latest trade, enacted with the Cleveland Browns, leaves the Eagles with the second pick, but strips them of third- and fourth-rounders this year, as well as a first round pick in 2017 and a second round pick in 2018.
In return, the Eagles receive a 2017 fourth-rounder and their shot at whatever quarterback prospect, Carson Wentz or Jared Goff, the Los Angeles Rams don't take.
The Eagles website dubbed the trade a "monumental" one for the franchise. Really, it's hard to argue.
This trade and the ensuing selection of either Goff or Wentz immediately determines the direction of the franchise at least over the next three, maybe four seasons, though the full ramifications could be as far-reaching as, well forever. It will determine their draft approach at least until 2018, and it will go a long way toward deciding the success or failure of the Doug Pederson-Howie Roseman era, which will in turn decide how owner Jeffrey Lurie approaches the post-emotional intelligence epoch.
But here's the thing that every Eagles fan, gripping their keyboard in frustration, should remind themselves of - Pederson, Roseman, Lurie and the rest of the Eagles franchise had no other choice.
They just didn't.
Sam Bradford, Chase Daniel - both talented players (Bradford more so, of course), both capable of some level of success, both being paid a pretty penny for their services in 2016. But if Daniel's age (29) and lack of starting experience or Bradford's two-year deal didn't prove it to you, the trade enacted Wendesday with the Browns should: the Eagles don't believe that they have a franchise signal-caller on their roster.
Or - and perhaps this is the most important factor - they believe that either Goff or Wentz are surefire future franchise quarterbacks.
You can argue all day the merits of either player, whether the smaller, but quicker-thinking Goff, or the larger, more athletic Wentz is worthy of the franchise quarterback projection, but in the end, what matters most is what the team's decision-makers believe.
And if they believe that one of the 2016 NFL Draft's top two signal-callers can become long-term starters in the league, then they really had no choice but to go out and grab one.
Because Bradford, for all his faults - of which there are many - and his virtues - of which there are also many - remains mostly an unproven product at this point, despite six years in the league and 63 games played. There's really no other stat you need to know than that Bradford, first-overall pick talent or no, is not a certainty.
He's got years of wear and tear, both physical and psychological, and he's closer to age 30 than a new regime would likely prefer. His overall production to this point is mediocre, and his track record of availability is spotty at best (atrocious at worst).
In short, whatever Bradford does in 2016 should be seen as a boon, an extra, a cherry on top of whatever the Eagles and their fans were expecting.
It's not that Bradford can't play well, won't lay claim to the starting gig or, at the very least, give Pederson, Roseman and Lurie something to think long and hard about next offseason; it's just that the chances are slim.
And he'll be going against a player hand-picked by the franchise as the future.
Wentz, Goff - the media will obsess over which player the Eagles will select later this month, and rightly so.
But the truth is that it really doesn't matter now.
The Eagles know that having an answer at the game's most important position is what defines a team. And like the Browns wanted to amass picks to increase their chances of hitting on a truly great player, so too do the Eagles want to amass quarterbacks in the hopes that one of them - the highly-touted newbie, the veteran journeyman with a coach's mentality, or the oft-injured former first-overall pick - will turn out to be the answer that the franchise has long been seeking, has too long been unable to find.
But either way, you can rest assured Roseman's already thinking ahead to the trade involving Bradford, Daniel or the guy they draft at No. 2 that will, in a year or two, allow him to recoup some - or all - of the picks he lost Wendesday.
