Late last week Percy Harvin was traded to the New York Jets for a conditional draft pick, expected to be a 6th rounder that could turn into a 4th if he is kept on the Jets roster in 2015, with it ended a brief, somewhat successful stint in Seattle for the receiver. In his 6th year as a professional football player and still considered one of the biggest playmakers in the league we must ask ourselves the question, when does personality override ability?
The Curious Case of Percy Harvin
Drafted 22nd overall in 2009 by the Minnesota Vikings, the talented but somewhat raw receiver out of Florida saw his draft stock drop due to testing positive for marijuana during the draft combine. He joined a team that with the help of Brett Favre would make the NFC Championship game that year.
Harvin had issues with chronic migraines throughout his early career causing him to miss several games and practices during his time with the Vikings. In 2010 he was diagnosed with a form of sleep apnoea and his treatment for this condition has caused the migraine problems to cease. In an article for the Daily Norseman, a neurologist suggested that Harvin may have a diminished pain threshold due to his medical history. Indeed his career in Minnesota was ended on injury reserve due to an ankle sprain, considering this was during the Vikings 2012 playoff run and Harvin was on course to be a league MVP candidate, ulterior motives have long been implicated for this move. Indeed during his time at the Seahawks he only took the field in eight games and in 2013 he was one practice away from going onto injury reserve.
So what are these ulterior reasons?
Harvin has had a cloud of issues surrounding him since he joined the league, his personality was already known, having had several altercations at both high school and college level including attaching a coach during training. He joined a team that for many was one of the strongest in the league and was one player too many from making the Super Bowl (the Vikings fell out of winning field goal range due to 12 men on the field in the NFC Championship game). His following season saw some of his traits surface. In 2010 Randy Moss was traded to Minnesota from the Patriots, known for his big personality Moss and Harvin quickly became friends, when Moss was cut 4 weeks later, part of the reasons cited for cutting ties was his disruptive influence on Harvin. The same year Harvin threw a weight at then head coach Brad Childress and the pair had to be separated during training.
In 2011 Harvin was at it again, this time with player friendly head Coach Les Frazier, in a very public altercation during the game against his future team, Seattle. Harvin can be seen berating Frazier for bad play by then Quarterback Christian Ponder, 3 weeks after this altercation his season was over with an apparent ankle injury.
Then the trade came and Percy was sent personality and all to the Seattle Seahawks for a bounty of draft picks (1st & 7Th in 2013, 3rd in 2014), at the time the Seahawks were considered the winners in the trade getting one of the most electric offensive weapons in the league. Once again injury struck and Harvin had off season surgery for a hip injury, which many commentators expected him to be able to play through. When he did get onto the field Harvin was game changing, having a kick-off return TD in Super Bowl XLVIII but his personality continued to rear its ugly head. In the week leading up to the game, Harvin attacked Golden Tate leaving the player with a black eye. In his last game for the Seahawks against Dallas, it has been reported that he refused to play in the fourth quarter and his disruptive nature in the locker room was so bad that the team were willing to cut him outright if a trade could not be made.
His hatred for Christian Ponder is an open secret and it was hoped that the move to Seattle and Russell Wilson would be a match made in heaven. This was not to be and even though Harvin was the feature receiver for Seattle, he felt that the team were not focusing enough of its offence on him.
While there is no disputing that Harvin is the best open field runner in the league, he has come across as lazy and non-committal when it comes to practices, routinely citing illness to skip them. The question has become how long teams will be willing to put up with his ego for his talent. Unlike receivers such as Moss, Harvin does not have physical attributes to be a true outside receiver and his route running has always been a bit lacking.
Harvin could be on last chance saloon at the Jets, he will be under much more media scrutiny in New York, Rex Ryan is a fiery head coach who is less player friendly than Pete Carroll and Les Frazier, Geno Smith is no Russell Wilson and most importantly Harvins contract has no guaranteed money left on it. So in essence he is on an 8 game audition, where he will have to be on his best behaviour or he will be looking for his 4th team in as many years.
Teams will tolerate a diva as long as they are playing well, but when the diva thinks he is bigger than the team and doesn’t play… well then he is shown the door. This is what happened at Minnesota, this is what happened at Seattle. Harvin became too much of a distraction for his abilities to cover. His only season where he was truly a team player (his rookie year) was also the year where he had an established, hall of fame Quarterback in Brett Favre, not many teams have such a luxury nor do many players. If Harvin is to be considered more than a disruptive influence in the annals of NFL history and to keep his big contracts he has to learn to be a team player and at the age of 26 time is running out fast.
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