And what a year it’s been.

I remember it like it was yesterday.

I woke up very early on September 3rd, 2016 to go watch the sunrise down at the shore. It was a lovely morning.

Upon arriving back at home, I planned to go back to bed. But I couldn’t. This deleted tweet from Wade Phillips piqued my curiosity.

Not too long after ... BAM.

There it was.

The Eagles had just Traded Sam Bradford for a first-round pick!

Sam.

Bradford.

For a first round pick!

... and, wait, what?

There’s more?!

A first round pick ... plus a 2018 fourth!

Was this real life?

It was. And it was glorious.

The incessant Bradford debates were over. The Eagles were moving forward with their young new franchise quarterback: Carson Wentz.

And did I mention the Eagles got a first. round. pick?

I can’t help but remember how James Seltzer worded it on the emergency BGN Radio reaction podcast. I’m paraphrasing here, but the sentiment was: “I can’t believe the Eagles got a first round pick for Bradford! I would’ve been happy with the fourth round pick alone.”

I also remember how some people (I’m not going to mention names, but I’m looking at YOU, John Barchard) were fine with dumping Bradford for virtually nothing (say, a seventh round pick) to the Denver Broncos following Bradford’s brief holdout last spring.

And the Eagles got a first round pick!

A year later, the trade is still looking pretty glorious.

Wentz was far from perfect as a rookie but he definitely showed signs of promise as a rookie. He also has 16 games of valuable starting experience under his belt as opposed to him entering this 2017 season without much playing time to his name.

That first round pick I keep mentioning? That turned out to be Derek Barnett.

Barnett looked awesome in offseason practices. He dominated the preseason as well — PFF graded him as the fourth best pass rusher this summer. It’s possible he becomes a starter at defensive end before the season is over. Oh, and he’s only 21 years old.

And then there’s that aforementioned 2018 fourth-round pick. That extra asset could really come in handy considering Philadelphia doesn’t own their second or third round selections in 2018.

One can debate if the trade was worth it for the Vikings or not. Honestly, I don’t care about that angle. I only care that the Eagles were able to pull off a great deal for them that had huge ramifications for the franchise.

Happy Sam Bradford Trade Day anniversary, everyone.