Oh, Percy!

If a football player is to be named Percy, he has to be great. A unique name. A unique football player. I've known of Percy Harvin since he was the top high school football player in the nation. I always hoped that he'd bring his unique football skills to Minnesota. Harvin should never have been available at #22 when the Minnesota Vikings drafted in 2009. Now, I hope that he spends his entire professional football days in Minnesota. Players like this are few.

Percy Harvin has easily become one of my favorite football players. At 5-11 and close to 200 lbs, he's considered small. Doesn't really matter, he's never played small. Percy Harvin is a bull. Tackling him is a chore. So many see it as an easy task. As many fail. He gains every yard as if it's the last yard he ever gains. Many receivers drop if a defender looks at him right. Between Harvin and Adrian Peterson, defenses have serious work in front of them. Those two do not hit the turf without a fight. I've rarely seen players fight for every single yard like Harvin and Peterson regularly do. Percy Harvin is critical to any success in the Vikings immediate future. So, his happiness is important. This past week has brought Harvin to the front of NFL news. He's never been there before. Despite his amazing football skills, Harvin has never really gained national attention. He's not in the NFL's Top 100 players when he should be in the top half of it. No one really knows him. He's always on the back burner. His talent is obviously known as the slightest peep put him on the front burner. He's known now for all of the wrong reasons. He complained. I never heard Harvin specifically ask to be traded from the Vikings. The media said that he did so I doubt that he ever did. There's certainly no doubting that he's unhappy about something. I can understand his reasons. There were far too many plays last year with Harvin on the sideline. Too many of those plays were in the red zone. Important downs. Important situations. Percy Harvin has to be on the field in those situations. The more that he's on the field the better the Vikings are. This forces the Vikings into a very difficult balance. Harvin wants to be on the field full time. Offense, returns, everything, probably defense too. I wouldn't put it past Harvin to survive that kind of work but it's a tough chore. If he's on the field 100%, it's difficult to perform 100%, 100% of the time. Perhaps that balance is easier to attain and Harvin is happier when the team wins. A competitor like Harvin always feels like his presence on the field can be the difference. He wants to win. It's all he knows. He wasn't unhappy with his contract. He was unhappy with losing. He was unhappy with being on the sideline too often while his team was losing. There's no mystery. As usual, the media exploded with a story that was never really there. I'd be disappointed if Percy Havin was happy with the past two years of Minnesota Vikings football. To be unhappy simply shows that he cares.