Seattle Seahawks trade WR Percy Harvin to the Jets

Lance Zierlein‏@LanceZierlein10 mins10 minutes ago
History of confrontations w/ teammates contd in SEA according to my guy including punching G Tate during SB week & near fight w/ #3 in ‘14

juny said:

Can't criticize the Jets too much (even though it's fun to do it) since they have no WR outside of Decker. If they can restructure his contract, could work out for them.

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Even if they restructure, that's still going to be a lot of money at WR (Between Decker and Harvin) for a team that may need to spend in a lot of other areas (QB, CB, Safety).

Even with the addition, the receiver on their team that most scares me is Kerley. I think he's a very good slot guy with no QB.

Just another example of why tying up big cap space on offensive skill players (QB excluded) is very risky.

JMC00 said:

Very talented is a vast overstatement.
He wasn't helping Seattle's passing game what makes you think he would help New York's?
If you think Harvin is going to restructure after half a season with that joke of an organization, you are ill informed. Only way jests keep him is if they continue to overpay him.

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Someone who is mediocre on Seattle could be one of the best players on the Jets

My take on this - I'm a bit surprised that Seattle would make this move as it doesn't make them stronger - but it could be they have plans for the cap space and knew they were going to cut him after this season - might as well try to get a pick

For the Jets, while their season is likely over they still need to assess whether Smith is their QB of the future

That's kindof tough to do if he has no WRs. With no guaranteed money past this year it's great gamble for the Jets

But the REAL winner here is Rex Ryan. Look at the Jets remaining schedule. With the exception of the Patriots there is not a SINGLE team they are playing that is above .500

Every single one of those games (yes including the Patriots) is winable.

Do I expect them to go 9-0. No. But I expect them to win some games and Harvin is going to be a huge help.

In the worst case scenario they play out the season, still look mediocre to bad, but at least they can assess whether Smith might be a decent QB if he has a WR to throw to.

And hey - I for one am pulling for Rex to get an extension - so I hope this works out for him!

rochrist said:

22 catches for 133 yds and 0 TDs. 6 yds per catch. Not exactly lighting it up.

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He was also used as a KO returner and would do some rushes. But you're right, he wasnt being the best WR out there

I feel like this is Idzik trying to save his job. He's sitting here with a now 1-6 team and a ton of cap space and coming to realize his job may not be safe... "Sh*t! Hey, I'll trade for Harvin. Look Woody! I'm working hard, I'm making trades, I'm spending cash! I'm providing talent! It's all Rex's fault we can't win!"

BingoBrown said:

LOL This trade is like throwing a life preserver to a man that is
floating face down.

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The life preserver is deflated with holes in it as well.

Disco Volante said:

Classic Jets move.

They're adding a highly injury-prone, prone to complaining (there's a reason he's on his 3rd team), bad lockeroom character WR with a huge salary to a 1-6 team whose playoffs chances for this year are already dead.

The absolute ceiling for this move is he stays healthy this year, helps the Jets finish 8-8 against a cupcake schedule and Woody Johnson decides to bring the whole gang back (Geno, Ryan, Idzik) along with Harvin's awful contract and gear up for what will be their 5th consecutive year out of the playoffs in 2015.

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Football is a business. Why is $6M HUGE to a team with lots of cap room? Don't you think that there will be more fan interest (and media interest) with Harvin on the team for the last half of the season. Don't you think that there will be more product sales?

Why is 2015 relevant? The jets don't have to keep him if they don't want to.

Yikes, this trade signals the end of a really bad misevaluation by the Seahawks FO. Granted, Harvin was probably the MVP of this past SB, so any evaluation of his time in Seattle has to prominently feature that, but for what they gave up in draft picks and the amount of money that they gave this is just really bad. The one area where they were really smart, though, is in only guaranteeing him $14M. Vs., say, the $30M that the Dolphins guaranteed to Mike Wallace right around the same time.

I hated the original Vikings trade for Seattle when it was made, and how it panned out was pretty much why. For all the things that Harvin does well, he just doesn't score that much. The Seahawks never really figured out how to get him the ball, because he's not a great WR and is too fragile to play RB. He's good for a significant injury and a couple of wow plays per season. As badly as it worked out for the Seahawks, though, I think it was still smart to trade him while he has value, get some meaningful draft capital in return, and free up some cap space for Wilson's upcoming extension. Taking a $7.2M dead cap hit next season is going to be rough on them, but it clears out the books some thereafter for when their homegrown talent starts seeing higher salaries on their second contracts.

All of that said, I understand why the Jets made the deal. His high base salaries mean that they'll still be paying him a lot of money (on the hook for ~$48M in base salaries from now through 2018), but they have a ton of cap space and no one to use it on. I wouldn't go so far as to say that I think this is a good trade for them, but if he sucks they can cut him with no dead cap hit, so the risk is really just limited to the opportunity cost of the draft pick they give up.

And that's worth it, IMO, to put weapons around Geno so they can figure out if he's their QB or not. He now has Harvin, Kerley and Decker at WR, Amaro and Cumberland at TE, and Ivory and CJ at RB. If he can't produce with that lineup and a decent line in front of him, then there's no excuses left to be made: he just sucks.

Things Percy Harvin has never done in the NFL:

1. 1,000 yard receiving season
2. 100 catch season
3. 500 yard rushing season
4. 10 Touchdown season

Harvin is all name and little production.

If the patriots had made the deal, many would have liked the trade (depending on the draft choice); others would be asking if he played LB; and still others would hate it because we are already SB bound and can better use the money and draft choice next year.

Gronkowski123 said:

weird move for seattle.
go from winning the SB to having to play for the dysfunctional jets!

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Seattle thought he would be a crucial part of their team. They ended up winning the SB without him, for the most part, and Harvin has always been 2 things: extremely talented and a head case who misses a lot of time.

This puts them in position to use the money for Wilson, and probably helps team chemistry. For the Jets,

Harvin
Decker
Kerley

Cumberland
Amaro

Ivory
Johnson

means GeNO! has no excuses.

mgteich said:

Football is a business. Why is $6M HUGE to a team with lots of cap room? Don't you think that there will be more fan interest (and media interest) with Harvin on the team for the last half of the season. Don't you think that there will be more product sales?

Why is 2015 relevant? The jets don't have to keep him if they don't want to.

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No downside. Huge upside.

As I mentioned Harvin actually gives them a chance for a more accurate assessment of Smith at QB

And since they only play on ONE team with a record above .500, winning a bunch of games, helped by Harvin, isn't out of the question.

Will it be enough to save the jobs of Idzik and Ryan? We can only hope so.

BradyFTW! said:

Yikes, this trade signals the end of a really bad misevaluation by the Seahawks FO. Granted, Harvin was probably the MVP of this past SB, so any evaluation of his time in Seattle has to prominently feature that, but for what they gave up in draft picks and the amount of money that they gave this is just really bad. The one area where they were really smart, though, is in only guaranteeing him $14M. Vs., say, the $30M that the Dolphins guaranteed to Mike Wallace right around the same time.

I hated the original Vikings trade for Seattle when it was made, and how it panned out was pretty much why. For all the things that Harvin does well, he just doesn't score that much. The Seahawks never really figured out how to get him the ball, because he's not a great WR and is too fragile to play RB. He's good for a significant injury and a couple of wow plays per season. As badly as it worked out for the Seahawks, though, I think it was still smart to trade him while he has value, get some meaningful draft capital in return, and free up some cap space for Wilson's upcoming extension.

All of that said, I understand why the Jets made the deal. His high base salaries mean that they'll still be paying him a lot of money in base salary, but they have a ton of cap space and no one to use it on anyone. I wouldn't go so far as to say that I think this is a good trade for them, but if he sucks they can cut him, and they need to put weapons around Geno to figure out if he's their QB or not. He now has Harvin, Kerley and Decker at WR, Amaro and Cumberland at TE, and Ivory and CJ at RB. If he can't produce with that lineup and a decent line in front of him, then there's no excuses left to be made: he just sucks.

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Malcolm Smith was the MVP.....and Harvin wasn't even the best receiver during the SB for the Seahawks. Doug Baldwin juked 3 defenders to get into the endzone on a play in the redzone and Kearse made an absolutely incredible catch in coverage for a TD.

Harvin made 4 plays in the entire game, doesn't qualify for MVP.

mgteich said:

Football is a business. Why is $6M HUGE to a team with lots of cap room? Don't you think that there will be more fan interest (and media interest) with Harvin on the team for the last half of the season. Don't you think that there will be more product sales?

Why is 2015 relevant? The jets don't have to keep him if they don't want to.

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If the Jets cut Harvin after this season, after trading a mid-round pick for him, then that will be a failure of its own kind. They're in their current situation because Tannenbaum squandered draft picks in trade-ups and trades like this one. But even with that in mind, I'm still fine with the trade from Idzik's perspective.

Idzik is from the Packers/Seahawks school of roster management, which preaches avoiding big FA splashes precisely because those monster signing bonuses destroy cap flexibility and make it impossible to keep your own guys. While Harvin is going to make a lot of money, he won't hurt their cap flexibility at all because they can cut him at any time with no real cap ramifications. Sure his base salary is way too much for his actual production, but the Jets have a ton of cap room so they can afford to pay that price without having to make any real sacrifices elsewhere. And when that stops being the case and his cap number becomes a burden, they can just cut him and get all of that cap space back.

It's Seattle that this trade looks really bad for. They're going to get a mid round pick for a guy who played about half a season total for them, for which they gave up a 1st rounder, a second rounder, and nearly $20M. His SB heroics keep that from being a monumental failure, but hindsight is already making it look like a big mistake that I'm sure they wish they could do over differently.

Seattle's biggest mistake wasn't trading for Harvin and then cutting him loose after such little return.

Seattle's mistake was not making this move last summer, and using the money to resign Golden Tate.

Everyone says this opens up money for Wilson, that money though is already open long-term. This move allows Seattle to resign Bobby Wagner (who before last week, was probably the best linebacker in football in 2014).

In Seattle's two losses, Marshawn Lynch has run the ball 16 times. Expect the Seahawks to go back to the run big time.

I still fail to realize why teams make these trades. This is only going to hurt the Jets, they're winning at most four gmaes this year, likely not much more the next couple years, need cap space and draft picks to rebuild. WHY would they do this trade?

Seattle already sucks at WR so I don't see this hurting them much, and it gives them great cap relief. Even though Harvin shined in the SB it's not like they really needed him in that game.

PATSYLICIOUS said:

I still fail to realize why teams make these trades. This is only going to hurt the Jets, they're winning at most four gmaes this year, likely not much more the next couple years, need cap space and draft picks to rebuild. WHY would they do this trade?

Seattle already sucks at WR so I don't see this hurting them much, and it gives them great cap relief. Even though Harvin shined in the SB it's not like they really needed him in that game.

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Go look at Idzik's drafting and the Jets' $20+million in cap space. This trade didn't cost the Jets anything.

hieroglyphics said:

Malcolm Smith was the MVP.....and Harvin wasn't even the best receiver during the SB for the Seahawks. Doug Baldwin juked 3 defenders to get into the endzone on a play in the redzone and Kearse made an absolutely incredible catch in coverage for a TD.

Harvin made 4 plays in the entire game, doesn't qualify for MVP.

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I'm well aware that Harvin didn't actually win the SB MVP. But he should have. The jet sweep that he ran on the Seahawks' second offensive play was huge for them, and it changed the complexion of the game right out of the gate. His presence on the field stretched the defense horizontally, which opened up a lot of the plays that came later and in many ways defined how the Seahawks attacked the Broncos' D.

And then he effectively ended the game with the KR TD to open the second half.

BradyFTW! said:

I'm well aware that Harvin didn't actually win the SB MVP. But he should have. The jet sweep that he ran on the Seahawks' second offensive play was huge for them, and it changed the complexion of the game right out of the gate. His presence on the field stretched the defense horizontally, which opened up a lot of the plays that came later and in many ways defined how the Seahawks attacked the Broncos' D.

And then he effectively ended the game with the KR TD to open the second half.

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Absolutely. SB win = ROI