The Percy Harvin trade came this afternoon seemingly out of nowhere, and has sent the NFL and all covering it into overdrive. For many of our readers, I am sure their Twitter feeds have turned into a sea of Harvin stories and opinions.
Luke Adams already did a fantastic job of covering the initial report, but below is a compilation of some of the most interesting aspects surrounding Harvin’s departure from the world champion Seahawks and his prospects going forward with the Jets.
- One team source for the Seahawks has already come out to explain the team’s motives, reports Mike Freeman of Bleacher Report (via Twitter). “It was time for a change. It’s that simple. We got a good deal. He’s happy, we’re happy,” said the source. “Percy didn’t want to be here. We accommodated him.”
- Freeman also noted that a piece he wrote last December in which he labeled the Harvin trade from the Vikings to the Seahawks as a bust had produced the most hate he had ever experienced from a fan base over something he had written (via Twitter).
- The Seahawks will still have the remnants of Harvin on their cap over the next two seasons, but for the Jets it amounts to a four-year contract worth $10MM per season with no guaranteed money, reports Jason Fitzgerald of OverTheCap.com (via Twitter). The specifics of the contract can be found at OverTheCap.com.
- In the piece he wrote up about the trade, Fitzgerald believes that this is the rare case of a deal that works for both teams. Still, he notes that the Seahawks were able to clear cap space by trading a player who didn’t fit (via Twitter). He also points out the the team’s relationship with Jets’ general manager John Idzik likely facilitated the transaction (via Twitter), and that the team likely regrets not being able to re-sign Golden Tate in light of losing Harvin (via Twitter).
- Joel Corry of The National Football Post agrees that the decision to acquire and pay Harvin took Tate off the table during this past free agency period (via Twitter).
- One reason the Seahawks may have wanted to move on from Harvin is that he is being paid like one of the best receivers in the NFL, writes Gregg Rosenthal of NFL.com (via Twitter). Over his short time with the team, he has failed to live up to that price tag. Rosenthal looks at some other reasons for the trade in his piece for NFL.com.
- Trading Harvin opens up cap space that could allow the team to re-sign other top players such as Bobby Wagner, K.J. Wright, and Russell Wilson, reports Bob Condotta of the Seattle Times (via Twitter).
- Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk applauds the Seahawks for moving on after a mistake instead of making a second mistake keeping Harvin around.
- Anger management issues are central to the problems Harvin has had with both the Seahawks and Vikings, writes Albert Breer of NFL Network (via Twitter).
- Lance Zierlein of 790 Sports Talk in Houston heard similar things about Harvin’s anger management problems and the role they played in this trade (via Twitter). He reports that Harvin punched fellow receiver Tate leading up to the Super Bowl last year and almost fought with Wilson earlier this season (via Twitter). The problem was severe enough to significantly hinder the team (via Twitter).
- This doesn’t come as a surprise to Jason Cole of Bleacher Report, who has been hearing that the team’s locker room has been oddly tense for a defending champion (via Twitter).
- There is support for head coach Pete Carroll and general manager John Schneider‘s attitude towards negative locker room influences, headlined by Steve Sandmeyer of 1090 the Fan in Seattle (via Twitter).
- On the field, the team has been talking about how they need to get back to basics and feed the running game, according to Jim Thomas of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch (via Twitter).