BREAKING NEWS: Percy Harvin Traded to Jets

[Basis4day]

If anyone is curious and wants to hear the podcast, it broke during hour 3 of Bob n Groz.

 

[Rainger]

This smacks of Pete Carroll and his philosophy.

Honestly, I can't recall a time when something similar has happened during Pete Carroll's career with any team. I thought Harvin was one of Carroll's "favorites," a unique athlete he was willing to be extremely patient with in the hopes that it would pay dividends in a big game. This move is extremely uncharacteristic of Carroll. To me, it is somewhat of an overreaction to Harvin's short term struggles in learning the playbook. I think they could have found a better trade deal after this season.

This is Pete all over it. If you aren't part of the team then you are not part of the team. Pete takes no shit.

Percy was a diva, stayed out of practices, pulled himself out of plays. His attitude was not what Pete could tolerate.

This is not "uncharacteristic" of Pete on the contrary, this is Pete. Remember Lendale White.

Pete has also just sent a message to everyone else on the team. Be part of the team, compete, work hard or you are gone.

 

[dontbelikethat]

Andrew Brandt @adbrandt
Knowing John Schneider and importance of trust to him, he did not hoodwink Idzik. The @nyjets know exactly what they're getting.

 

[Seahawk Sailor]

This came as a huge shock to every Seahawks fan out there. Sure, there's a lot of speculation and chatter and gossip, and a lot of it that looks like it has a basis in truth. But for all you who are overreacting, or trying not to overreact, I suggest you re-read Kip's post. There is a lot of good stuff in there.

This is sudden and shocking, but not surprising. I would have expected Harvin to be on the trade block next March, this was just a bit sooner. He's owed a ton of money without getting the kind of production that money requires, he's a high maintenance player who has clearly impacted Bevell's playcalling this season.

At our best, Harvin makes Seattle a much better team, but at our worst he posed too much of a threat to Seattle's "control to win" identity. For Seattle to get back on track to being a team that controls to win, that would mean more Lynch and less Harvin, and it's not hard to see how this would create headaches in the locker room.

As Scotte says, this move is 100% Pete. Just like the move to get Percy in the first place. Pete wanted Harvin for a really long time.

There is a degree of truth to Pete's official explanation. Running an offense that could feature Harvin and still impose it's will is very difficult to do, and I think Seattle would rather have a team that controls the game more consistently even at the expense of being less explosive or dynamic.

But that said, this is clearly motivated by locker room issues. And this isn't the first time we've seen Pete do this. In 2009, Housh was our leading WR. He didn't even catch a regular season pass here in 2010, because Pete valued "buying in" that much. The move to cut Housh didn't save Seattle a single cent, in fact it actually cost them money because they had to pay his replacement. Contrast that with the team paying Sidney Rice all that money all those years because he was a good organizational soldier.

I'm not trying to impugn Harvin's character. But we knew before the trade that he's a guy that's difficult to be around if things aren't going perfect. The struggle between dynamism and control and managing the ball-hogging egos of Harvin and Lynch proved too much. Especially when the more problematic of the two was the one who needed to be minimized for the benefit of the team.

This trade makes all the sense in the world to me. I am not the least bit upset. Seattle is not able to control teams with defense in 2014. However, they have the tools to control teams with their offense, but only if they marginalize Harvin. In the two games where they didn't control the game on offense, they lost. Of course, reducing Harvin's role would cause problems in the locker room, if there weren't problems already. That Seattle has been looking to trade Harvin for some time is not a surprise to me either.

And though I really hate to say this, I wouldn't be surprised if we also see Christine Michael being traded as well in the next calendar year. There are very few plausible reasons for him not being activated for games other than one of the coaches (probably Cable) hating his guts.

Moving forward, this trade gives Seattle some much needed cap flexibility with their current 3 year plan, and it will give Seattle a draft pick in the area of the draft where they've had success.

As far as the original trade, I had my reservations about it at the time, because I wondered how Harvin would fit personality wise with a coach who values relationships more than any coach in the NFL, especially given Pete's past history with players like Housh and Lendale White. I think Pete knew this was a gamble and sometimes you lose those. What Pete was not wrong about is that this team badly needs a true #1 WR and I can't blame him for trying to get one.

The part of the original trade that hurts the most is that the 2013 draft was one of the best late 1st round groups of talent I've ever seen. Had they kept the pick, they very well might have drafted DeAndre Hopkins, and even the somewhat pedestrian Datone Jones would be a nice fit on our D-line too.

For those wringing their hands for Tate, I'm not saying the rumors about him and Wilson's wife are true, but the FO acted in such a way that made me think they believed the rumors. They lowballed his ass and did not make a counter offer when given the chance, even though they knew full well how valuable he was to our team.

 

[Mojambo]

Russell Wilson practices hard, and demands others do too.

Guys who don't practice hard just aren't going to last long.

Lynch's legendary game effort buys him a lot of tolerance from Russell and the coaches, obviously.

 

[hawknation2014]

The message here is don't mess with Russell Wilson. :th2thumbs:

 

[jammerhawk]

No single player is bigger than the team. Buh Bye Percy!

About 2 weeks ago Percy took a day off in the middle of the week for personal reasons, perhaps he had been given the team first talk by Pete or John and wasn't willing to buy in. Thus he was living on borrowed time. Perhaps he was less than charitable about losing those TDs called back in the Redskins game. Perhaps it was a long laundry list of failure to fit in to Pete's philosophy and clearly the FO had had enough. Whatever the the reason it appears he didn't want to be here so he was accommodated and a clear message sent to others on the roster that no single player is bigger than the team.

He was certainly exciting to watch as a player and a special talent but from friends who have connections to the team was regarded as an odd duck by several within the organization. The stories of fights and disputes may now surface but it is clear the FO doesn't screw around and if you are a distraction or say you don't want to be here. If so, then you are gone.

I'm actually disappointed Percy didn't work out but absolutely proud of our FO stepping and cutting the ties with a player they saw wasn't a fit with our organization. You can grumble about his cost in picks and salary but his play in XL made that cost worth it. This year not so much. Let's hope he plays well enough to allow the traded for conditional pick to become an early 2nd.

I'm excited to see the young WRs on the roster now and hopefully they will get a shot sooner or later. It might be nice to see if the team has anything in Michael sooner rather than later too. I'm sure much will be written about this and perhaps we may understand the reasons for this surprising move but generally this FO is not afraid to make bold decisions and try calculated flyers but quick to cut ties with problematic situations.

Lord have mercy, they traded Percy. C'Ya!

 

[TwistedHusky]

Well Harvin was a key part of winning a SB for us.

It really is a bummer that we lost Tate for him. Seems like we took 3-4 steps back this offseason and the competition (Denver, SF) each took 2-5 forward.

Not sure what this means or how this affects the locker room.

That SF, Philly, SF stretch really looms large now - with effectively one of the worst WR corps in the NFL at a time when our line looks gutted anyway and our defense looks like some holes are popping up all over the place (both in loss of depth and also a little loss of effectiveness).

Then again, we still have to beat the Rams, so even looking toward that stretch sounds crazy when all this turmoil hits right before we play a team that gives us fits even when they start Kellen Clemons.

The Hawks are still a good team, maybe not the favorite anymore by a long shot.

PS What heck are we going to do for KRs now? Just give up playing on a short field now? Asking Wilson to drive 80 each time is going to be rough on an offense already struggling to score.

 

[Basis4day]

Well, if this is our big mid-season news drop i'd prefer it to another year of PED suspensions.

 

[chawx]

Man... everyone whining now about Tate:



Richardson, Lockette, Norwood....we have plenty of talented horses in the stable.

We don't need some undersized schmo in Tate that's just going to fade away and never play another meaningful game in his career OR some diva, prima donna in Percy. I've already moved on and excited to see the young talent get some touches.

 

[brimsalabim]

I respect your opinions Kip but Lynch seems awful upset about Percy being traded for him to be part of the reason behind the move.

 

[SoulfishHawk]

And Clayton said that other than the signing bonus, the Jets are on the hook for all of it. And IF those tweets about his attitude, and not wanting to be here are true, well then screw him.

 

[LymonHawk]

On the bright side: I didn't buy a Harvin jersey.

 

[NJSeahawk]

Pfft, no more linking to PDFs for you guys!


All this pish posh about ordered by jersey numbers but no comments on my excellent screen grab or Golden's knot, therein.

:sarcasm_on:

[tweet]https://twitter.com/mikefreemanNFL/status/523239608385957888[/tweet]


time to move on! How do we do that?

[tweet]https://twitter.com/AdamSchefter/status/523234331335340032[/tweet]

http://www.nfl.com/draft/2014/profiles/paul-richardson?id=2543491

[youtube]BnlKFbW7fZw[/youtube]

 

[captSE]

Uh, ... well, defense wins championships.

 

[Our Man in Chicago]

rumours the Tate punch was in response to his messing about with RW's wife. Neither are the protagonist if that's the case.

 

[pehawk]

I feel dumb, was worried about perception of a post. I was an hour away from posting "something is fishy with Percy randomly on IR" I JUST KNEW IT.

Selfish rant over.

 

[Grahamhawker]

with effectively one of the worst WR corps in the NFL

I'd like to see definitive evidence that it could be anything other than #1.
Jags have Hearns; Oakland's got James Jones. I'd be starting either one of them in a heartbeat.

 

[MizzouHawkGal]

Well maybe Richardson and Norwood get an actual chance? And we throw the downfield? After running the ball 25-30 times a game as opposed to 10? If so I'm decent with this. If not....well there aren't words.

 

[pmedic920]

On the bright side: I didn't buy a Harvin jersey.

Good minds think alike, or so they say.