Seahawks reportedly trade receiver Percy Harvin to Jets for draft pick
As far as out-of-the-blue NFL trades go, Percy Harvin to the New York Jets ranks pretty high.
A day after slipping to 1-6, the Jets made a big and shocking move, trading a conditional pick to the Seattle Seahawks for Harvin, the explosive receiver and return man. Fox Sports’ Jay Glazer broke the news. The pick is a “conditional mid-rounder,” NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport said.
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Had the roles been reversed, and the defending Super Bowl champs were adding a receiver to improve their struggling passing attack from a team whose season is effectively over and looking to restock draft picks, that would make sense. It’s harder to figure out as it went down.
The Seahawks, who have thrown among the fewest deep passes in the NFL, had not been using Harvin as a deep threat, and Harvin had been struggling to get anything going this season. But he’s still by far their most talented receiver. He had just 133 yards on 22 catches this season, but an expanded role was promised by the Seahawks this week. Before the end of the week, he was gone to the Jets.
The immediate reaction from the Seahawks was one of shock too. There were NSFW tweets from running back Marshawn Lynch and linebacker Bruce Irvin, and defensive end Cliff Avril sent a family-friendly tweet that summed it up:
The Jets need weapons too, but their season is practically done, barring a miracle turnaround. He should help next year, but he also has a $10.5 million base salary on a team that has a lot of roster holes.
Last year the Seahawks traded for Harvin, sending 2013 first- and seventh-round picks and a 2014 third-round pick to Minnesota, and gave him a six-year deal worth a little more than $64 million. Harvin barely played last season because of injuries, but was instrumental in the Seahawks’ Super Bowl victory. Harvin won’t be playing in another Super Bowl this year. We’ll see if the Seahawks have enough weapons remaining in the passing game to get back there themselves.
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Frank Schwab is the editor of Shutdown Corner on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter! Follow @YahooSchwab
