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Here's why the Eagles' QB insanity could end up being brilliant

Say this, amid the "What are the Philadelphia Eagles doing???" questions after their big trade on Wednesday: If what they're doing works, they won't be the last team to try.

Before the Eagles, nobody has gone all-in on the idea that if you throw multiple expensive players at the quarterback position and one sticks, you win. Not to this extreme, at least. In the past couple months, the Eagles have invested $18 million a year in Sam Bradford, $7 million a year in Chase Daniel, and five picks (including two firsts) to move up to No. 2 to draft Carson Wentz or Jared Goff, whoever is left for them after the Los Angeles Rams pick.

To be honest, I'm not sure I think this was the Eagles' plan all along. I picture the Eagles as a tourist at a buffet, loading his plate up with whatever looks good in front of him at that moment. Investing in Bradford is strange if you're going to turn around a little while later and trade a ton of picks for another quarterback. it seems like impulse buying at the highest stakes imaginable, from an impulsive franchise that fired Andy Reid, just to hire Andy Reid's assistant three years later.

However, if you assume the Eagles planned all this (Yahoo's Charles Robinson said the Eagles' thinking was "loading up with as many starting-quality candidates as possible and hoping for one to rise"), it's not the most illogical plan ever hatched.

Eagles coach Doug Pederson (AP)
Eagles coach Doug Pederson (AP)

It makes some sense to keep investing at quarterback until you find one. If one of the Eagles' trio they're going to make a little more than $31 million between them this season becomes the next Cam Newton, who cares about the cost? The end justifies the means and if you don't have a good quarterback in the NFL, it's almost impossible to get one. Ask John Elway.

The Eagles have created one of the strangest quarterback rooms in recent memory. Bradford's first two contracts were worth about $113 million. He's been injury-prone and inconsistent in the NFL. Daniel has 50 career NFL completions, and if he sees the end of his Eagles contract he'll have about $33 million in career earnings. Good work if you can get it. And Wentz/Goff will end up with a contract similar to what Marcus Mariota got last year, with was four years, about $24 million and a $15.9 million signing bonus.

And the Eagles just have to hit it big with one. If Bradford lives up to the ability he showed as a No. 1 pick that many still hold onto ... if Daniel really is a quality quarterback who just never got a shot to start, as Eagles coach Doug Pederson said this offseason ... if Wentz/Goff becomes a franchise quarterback, as should be the expectation for a No. 2 pick ... then the $31 million per year and the draft picks and the time and effort was all worth it. The Eagles just need to hit .333 in this experiment. Just about every other team throughout history has bet on one quarterback and lived or died with it. Philadelphia bet on three. If more than one hit, they'll figure it out when it happens.

I'm not sure that before March 1, when Bradford signed a two-year deal, that the Eagles scripted this all out. It seems like they're flying by the sat of their pants a bit. That doesn't mean it won't work out. If the madness leads to the Eagles finding a franchise quarterback for the next 12 seasons, so be it. Nobody will second guess it.

And if they do, they might have just started a new trend: Invest, invest and invest in the quarterback position until someone finally sticks. That might not be so crazy, after all.

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Frank Schwab is the editor of Shutdown Corner on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at shutdown.corner@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!