Although the Seahawks have yet to confirm it, they have traded wide receiver/kick returner Percy Harvin to the New York Jets in exchange for a conditional — some reports say mid-round — draft choice. Stunning on the surface, the trade was first reported by Fox’s Jay Glazer, and occurred Friday as the Seahawks were wrapping up preparations to depart for St. Louis, where they will meet the Rams Sunday.
The Seahawks acquired Harvin in March 2013 from Minnesota for a 2013 first-round draft choice, one of three 2013 seventh-round draft picks and a 2014 third-round choice. After Harvin arrived, he signed a six-year, $67 million extension, $25 million guaranteed, that, coupled with his lack of production beyond a series of spectacular plays, probably played a role in his trade to the Jets.
Also significant: Harvin is a world-class athlete who has been traded twice by age 26, a red flag if ever there was one.
In five games this season, Harvin had a team-high 22 receptions, but ranked third in yards with 133 behind Doug Baldwin (187) and Jermaine Kearse (168). But the Seahawks were unable to effectively work Harvin into the offense, especially as a deep threat.
Harvin did not score a touchdown this season and had only one long play, a 51-yard run against San Diego.
The Seahawks finally found a way to get Harvin fully engaged in their game at Washington Oct. 6. Harvin scored on a 16-yard run, a 26-yard catch and a 41-yard catch, but all were called back due to penalties (including a motion call on him), making Harvin the first player in franchise history to have three scores called back in the same game.
Last week against Dallas, Harvin caught three passes for no yards and caught one pass for minus one yard. With the game in the balance, Harvin was not on the field for 11 of Seattle’s final 17 offensive snaps.
In six regular-season games, Harvin caught 23 passes for 150 yards and no touchdowns, with a long gain of 33. He rushed for 92 yards and one touchdown. In Seattle’s 43-8 win over Denver in the Super Bowl, Harvin had two rushes for 45 yards and returned a kickoff 87 yards for a touchdown.
Harvin, making a base salary of of $7,117,648 this season, would have cost the Seahawks $10.5 million in 2015, also the amount of his cap hit. The Seahawks are facing an off-season extension for QB Russell Wilson, who will cost them north of $20 million.
6 Comments
Very disappointing all around. Seahawks seemed prepared for RW’s contact during offseason, so cap reasons don’t really make sense. Can’t help but think we lost the last top 20 receiver Seattle will see for years because we didn’t tweak and persist to get the most out of his talent. Game planning against the Seahawks just got much easier.
Surprising, but only that this happened with eleven games left on the schedule. That last sentence in the article says it all: It’s going to take a LOT of shekels to keep Russell Wilson in Seattle for 2015 and beyond, meaning there are ten million reasons the Seahawks made this trade.
…and what if they try to low ball Wilson at the end of the year? Injured? Too short? Not able to carry the team through difficult stretches? Wilson may demand a 2014 Super Bowl bonus plus a first tier guaranteed contract. The Players Agreement did not benefit him.
The loss of what COULD be is all there is here plus cap. He did help some last year but was all vapor ware here for too much $
Easy come easy go. Really a flash in the pan and promise unfulfilled. Cut your loses and move forward. The SeaHawks are a business. Team chemistry is more important than Mr. Harvin.
I think Pete and John deserve the benefit of the doubt given their unprecedented success they’ve had here. They have demonstrated they are very shrewd in personnel decisions (Lyndale White was the first surprise of many ‘no nonsense decisions’ that have been surprising at the time). If a player isn’t pulling in the same direction as the rest of the team, they haven’t been afraid to move him. And the Jets are sort of ‘Raiders East’ for taking in knuckleheads. Gotta stick with ‘In Pete and John We Trust’ on this one.