Nineteen months after Percy Harvin came to the 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 draft picks, including a 2013 first-rounder, is headed to the New York Jets after the two team agreed to a trade Friday, meaning he will leave Seattle having played in only eight games for the Seahawks: one regular season game last season, part of the playoff game against New Orleans, Super Bowl XLVIII and the first five games of this season.
For those eight games, the Seahawks paid roughly $18.4 million in cash, gave up first and seventh-round picks last year and third-rounder this year, and will deal with future salary camp ramifications going forward.
The move, which was first reported by Fox Sports, is expected to be announced Saturday after paperwork has been 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 did contribute to a Super Bowl victory, 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 cause 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 was only on the field for a limited number snaps in Sunday’s loss to Dallas by his choosing, behavior that “couldn’t be tolerated,” according to a source, another factor in the decision to make the trade.
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 to 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 when he was sidelined for the start of training camp with a hip injury. Carroll made a point of saying that safety Kam Chancellor had played through a similar injury the season before without needing surgery, something a coach likely wouldn’t bring up without an agenda. Then not long after, Harvin announced on Twitter that he was planning on having surgery before Carroll or the team could do so. He did return to face his former team, 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 Marshawn Lynch touched the ball more frequently than Harvin, who caught 22 passes for 133 yards and rushed for 92 yards on 11 caries. 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.
The Seahawks knew Harvin had a difficult personality and was tough to manage, a source said, and were willing to take that risk but it finally reached the point where it was not a fit.
Considering Seattle is now the second team to move on from 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, “It was a good time for a change. It’s that simple. We got a good deal. 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 Bruce Irvin, whose responses weren’t suitable for print, as well as 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 the 2010-2012 as the team’s VP 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 also 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 towards free agency next year, including Bobby Wagner, K.J. Wright, Cliff Avril and Byron Maxwell, and with 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 Marshawn 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, so Carroll was likely meeting with Schneider to discuss the trade being finalized at that point. 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).
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