Percy Harvin Requests Trade Out of Minnesota
Minnesota Vikings wide receiver Percy Harvin has made it clear he wants out of Minnesota, and Vikings general manager Rick Spielman has made it clear that he’s not going to let that happen.
Harvin said Tuesday at the team’s minicamp that “there’s a lot of different things that need to be sorted out” and “just haven’t been really happy lately”.
Our minds began to wander after Harvin made those remarks, as to what exactly the problems Harvin is facing are. It seems like few people know what Harvin is really talking about. Not even teammate Adrian Peterson knows what’s going on, but he said that he would try to talk to Harvin later today.
Regardless of what Harvin is referring to, no trade can be made if the GM is not on board.
Spielman said today, following Harvin’s comments, that the Vikings “have no interest at all in trading Percy Harvin” and that “he’s a key part of our organization and a key part of our football team”.
Spielman seems to have the right idea. Why would he want to trade the Vikings’ best receiver who played all 16 games last season, totaled 87 catches for 967 yards with six touchdowns, and had 345 rushing yards with two touchdowns. Not to mention, Harvin had a kick return for a touchdown, making Harvin the definition of a triple threat last season. And that’s perfect for the rebuilding Vikings.
What’s peculiar about this situation is that the Vikings have always made it clear that the majority of the time, they only restructure contracts in the last year of the player’s contract. However, Harvin will be going into his fourth season of his five-year rookie deal. Sure Harvin is only set to make $915,000 this year, which is significantly less then teammates Michael Jenkins and Jerome Simpson (even though Harvin way out performs them), but Harvin went about this whole situation wrong.
Usually players voice their displeasure, then threaten to holdout, and if that doesn’t work, they hold out, and later, if holding out doesn’t seem to work, they request a trade. Harvin just decided to skip those steps, and cut right to the chase. Harvin might have just realized that the Vikings weren’t going to restructure his contract, and instead of wasting everybody’s time, he just requested a trade.
The problem is that maybe the tactic that most players use to get new contracts might have worked with the Vikings in Harvin’s case. The Vikings desperately need Harvin, as the Vikings are rebuilding, and one of their three key offensive players is quarterback Christian Ponder, who will have a tough time succeeding without Harvin.
This certainly has been a rapid turn of events for Harvin. He went from going to voluntary workouts in May, despite still recovering from shoulder surgery, and speaking of asserting himself as a leader and encouraging other players to participate in the team’s offseason program, to requesting a trade.
One can only wonder, what’s bothering Harvin?
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