Vikings receiver Percy Harvin wants a trade, but that doesn’t mean he’ll be getting one.
G.M. Rick Spielman said Wednesday that the team has “no interest at all” in dealing the 2009 offensive rookie of the year.
“We drafted Percy Harvin here,” Spielman said, via ESPN.com. “He’s a key part of our organization. He’s a key part of our football team. Any issues that are out there or reported, we always handle those internally and continue to handle those internally.”
But that won’t necessarily be the end of it. If Harvin wants out, and if he’s willing to become sufficiently disruptive, he may get his way.
The Vikings set the precedent in this regard last year by cutting long-time left tackle Bryant McKinnie loose, after he showed up for training camp overweight and out of shape.
“In Bryant’s case, he’s been a terrific player for the Vikings,” coach Leslie Frazier said last August. “I love him as a person. We’ve gotten a great relationship together. But at this point, for all parties involved, I just thought it was the right thing to do, and I’m sure he’s going to catch on with a team and he’s going to do well. He’s a terrific player right now, but for where we are right now and where we’re trying to go to, it just wasn’t the right fit for the direction that we want to go.”
So at what point does Harvin do enough to allow Frazier to reach the same conclusion?
Though there’s no reason to believe Harvin would go T.O. on the Vikings, trying deliberately to get traded by becoming openly insubordinate, Harvin reportedly hasn’t been a model teammate in the past. He reportedly “chuck[ed] a weight” at former coach Brad Childress in 2010, in the days after Childress cut receiver Randy Moss. The alleged move capped a “heated argument” that arose after Childress questioned Harvin’s effort in practice.
At Florida, Harvin reportedly grabbed an assistant coach by the neck and threw him to the ground.
So just because the Vikings don’t want to trade Harvin doesn’t mean Harvin will quit trying to get traded. The question is what else will he do to try to get what he wants?