It's probably a pretty safe bet that a lot of folks in Philadelphia woke up Thursday morning with an anger hangover, maybe even threw off the covers Friday morning still feeling the after effects of the frustration and outrage that spilled out and over after their beloved Eagles announced that they had given up five picks - three picks in the 2016 NFL Draft, two premium picks in later drafts - in order to trade up to the second overall selection and come away with another potential franchise quarterback later this month.
And really, it's understandable that Eagles fans would be so incensed. That's three years of crucial draft capital that GM/not GM Howie Roseman gave away in a moment, in order to - presumably - add a kid from North Dakota who missed most of his senior season and comes to the league with clear technical deficiencies.
It's a gamble - a big gamble - and it may well never pay any dividend, provide any tangible result beyond that morning after vexation that swept across the Tri-State area on Thursday.
But when fans start groaning about a lost 2016 season, that's when things go sideways.
The Eagles, despite forking over all that draft dough, are a win-now team. The move to trade up and nab a quarterback was not a win-now move, but everything else that Roseman and Eagles head coach Doug Pederson have done this season was.
And if you want the clearest indication of just how far back the plan to add a young quarterback via trade up in the draft went, look no further than their free agency haul.
Rodney McLeod will take over Walter Thurmond's spot next to Malcolm Jenkins at safety. Leodis McKelvin, Nolan Carroll and, to a lesser extent, Ron Brooks, will compete for the starting corner spots on the outside, along with second-year player Eric Rowe. Nigel Bradham steps into Kiko Alonso's vacated strongside linebacker position, Brandon Brooks takes over a right guard spot that never really belonged to Matt Tobin in 2015, Stefen Wisniewski adds versatility and depth, and Chris Givens and Rueben Randle bring, at the least, competition and starting experience to the wide receiver group.
And then there's Sam Bradford.
Sure, giving Bradford a deal worth $23.5 million for 2016 seems like a strange allocation of cap resources, especially in light of the trade up and the similarly expensive free agent deal for career backup Chase Daniel.
But the Eagles did the Bradford and Daniel deals with the trade up in mind.
Having Bradford on a short-term contract - and there was probably no way to get him to agree to a short-term deal unless the annual value was high - allows the Eagles to continue to compete, even as they train a player the entire franchise surely hopes eventually takes over the top spot, allowing them to then deal Bradford.
And Daniel, beyond just being a Pederson favorite and something like another quarterback coach on the sideline and in the meeting room, is a guy with enough talent to step in and play should Bradford get hurt or the Eagles be offered a trade for the former first-overall pick that's simply too good to pass up, albeit before the rookie is ready to take the reins.
You can certainly argue that the trade up limits the Eagles' ability to address positions of need - offensive line and wide receiver depth, another starter at corner - but the Eagles do already have talent at those positions.
It's not talent you can say with certainty will be worthy of a starting role, but it's still high-level talent.
At wide receiver, Nelson Agholor struggled through his rookie season and a high ankle sprain and provided almost no impact as a result. His stats for the year were 23 catches for 283 yards and just one touchdown. Disappointing to be sure, but he still has the talent that made him a first-round pick a year ago. In a way, his contributions in 2016 can almost be looked at as the addition of another first-round pick.
At corner, Rowe, despite a nightmarish stat line against Detroit during his first extended playing time, showed flashes of ability and got stronger as the year went on. And the Eagles' presumed starter in the slot last year, JaCorey Shepherd, should be back and healthy after tearing his ACL during the preseason. There should be, at the least, a decent starter at slot corner for Philly between Shepherd, Jaylen Watkins, Randall Evans and Denzel Rice.
Really, the only position that you can rightly say is in dire need of an injection of talent is the offensive line, where Allen Barbre, Dennis Kelly and Malcolm Bunche won't be striking fear into the hearts of any opponents at left guard, and the depth chart is mighty thin beyond starters Jason Peters and Lane Johnson at tackle.
In the end, there are holes. But every NFL team has holes. It's an unavoidable fact of life in the parity- and salary cap-driven NFL.
Trading up to No. 2 to select a quarterback took away an opportunity for the Eagles to add an impact starter at a position of need, sure. But for those fans wringing their hands over the wasted pick and angry that the team didn't just stick with Bradford, take heart - at least now you'll get to see Bradford (try to) prove that he's the franchise quarterback he's always been purported to be, with a team that's built to win now, and in the future.
