RENTON — Nineteen months after Percy Harvin came to the Seattle Seahawks in one of the biggest trades in franchise history, his career in Seattle came to a shocking and abrupt end.
Harvin, who cost the Seahawks multiple NFL draft picks, including a 2013 first-rounder, is headed to the New York Jets after the teams agreed to a trade Friday, meaning he leaves Seattle having played in just eight games: one regular-season contest last season, part of a playoff game against New Orleans, Super Bowl XLVIII and the first five games of this season.
For those eight games, the Seahawks paid Harvin roughly $18.4 million, gave up first- and seventh-round picks last year and a third-rounder this year, and will deal with future salary-camp ramifications going forward.
The move is expected to be announced Saturday after the paperwork is finalized on both sides.
As many brilliant moves as the Seahawks have made under general manager John Schneider and Pete Carroll — and as admirable as it might be for a front office to admit its mistakes and move on from them — it’s hard to classify the Harvin trade as anything but a failure. While Harvin contributed to the Super Bowl victory over Denver in February, that was a game the Seahawks were going to win with or without him considering how well the defense played. The move looks even worse given that the Seahawks let Golden Tate, their leading receiver last season, leave in free agency because they couldn’t afford to keep him.
According to a league source, there was no single reason for the trade, but over time the Seahawks decided “it wasn’t a good fit, and rather than try to fake it, it reached the point where it was time to move on.” Harvin played sparingly in the fourth quarter of Sunday’s 30-23 loss to Dallas by his own choice, behavior that “couldn’t be tolerated,” the source said.
The Seahawks knew Harvin had a difficult personality, the source said, and was tough to manage, and were willing to take that risk, but it finally reached the point it was not a good fit.
According to multiple reports, the Seahawks will receive a conditional pick in next year’s draft from the Jets for their highest-paid player, a pick that will range between a second- and fourth-rounder, likely depending on Harvin’s playing time and production the rest of this season.
Harvin’s tenure in Seattle got off to something of a rocky start in 2013 when he was sidelined for the start of training camp with a hip injury. At the time, Carroll made a point of saying that safety Kam Chancellor played through a similar injury the season before without needing surgery. Then not long after, Harvin announced on Twitter that he was planning on having surgery before the team could do so. He returned to face his former team, the Vikings, in Week 11 but aggravated his hip injury, and did not play until Seattle’s playoff opener against New Orleans, a game he left early with a concussion.
Despite last year’s injury issues, Harvin opened this season as a central part of Seattle’s offense. Through five games, only running back Marshawn Lynch touched the ball more frequently than Harvin, who caught 22 passes for 133 yards and rushed for 92 yards on 11 carries. Harvin had not, however, been that productive, averaging just 6.0 yards per catch, the lowest number in the NFL by a receiver with more than five catches.
Considering Seattle is now the second team to trade one of the NFL’s most talented players while in his prime, it’s hard to imagine Harvin didn’t do something to wear out his welcome in Seattle. Not long after news of the trade came out, multiple reports, citing anonymous sources, painted a picture of Harvin being a problem in Seattle’s locker room.
Bleacher Report’s Mike Freeman quoted a team source saying, “He’s happy, we’re happy. Percy didn’t want to be here. We accommodated him.”
Several of Harvin’s teammates expressed their surprise on Twitter not long after the news broke, including Lynch and linebacker Bruce Irvin, whose responses weren’t suitable for print, as well as defensive end Cliff Avril, who wrote, “This business is crazy… Hate to see my boy @Percy_Harvin go.”
The Jets were a logical trading partner for Seattle since their general manager, John Idzik, worked with Carroll and Schneider from 2010-12 as the team’s vice president of football administration. New York also has the cap space to take on the prorated amount of Harvin’s 2014 salary, which is $7.12 million.
Trading Harvin frees up cash and cap space for the Seahawks going forward. While not guaranteed, Harvin was due $10.5 million next season and nearly $30 million over the final three years of the deal he signed last year at the time of the trade.
With several key defensive players heading toward free agency next year, including Avril, linebackers Bobby Wagner and K.J. Wright, and cornerback Byron Maxwell, and with quarterback Russell Wilson able to negotiate a new deal after this season, the Seahawks should be able to make good use of the money they’re saving with Harvin off the books. Freeing up that money also increases the chances of Lynch playing out the final year of his deal.
Harvin practiced Friday, and after practice Carroll left the field for roughly 10 minutes before returning to address the media, which isn’t his usual procedure. Carroll then returned for his usual Friday media session, but did not mention the trade even when asked specifically about Harvin’s availability for Sunday’s game (Harvin was listed on this week’s injury report with a thigh injury).
Herald Writer John Boyle: jboyle@heraldnet.com
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