Harvin to Seattle?

Today, it became official that Percy Harvin has been traded from the Minnesota Vikings to the Seattle Seahawks for a first round pick, a seventh round pick and possibly another selection depending on how things shake out. At the moment, both teams likely think they made out like bandits in the deal. Both teams certainly have the the potential to reap huge rewards from this move, but this loses sight of the most important question: How does this impact the Packers?

The fact that he's out of the division is both a positive and negative for the Packers. On the one hand, Harvin is a dangerous threat and one of the most versatile players in the NFL. Not facing him twice a year is a good thing for the Packers. On the other hand, he is a volatile head-case who has as much potential to destroy a team as he does to help them win games. Harvin's departure leave room for the Vikings to go after a consistent and non-destructive threat at the receiver position. I can't express how depressing it would be to see Greg Jennings wearing purple. It wouldn't be as bad as seeing Brett Favre in purple, but it would still be pretty bad.

On the other hand, if Minnesota is not able to successfully replace Harvin, they would be down to one weapon on offense. Granted, Adrian Peterson is one hell of a weapon, but he wasn't enough for the Vikings last year and I don't expect that to change.

There is one other aspect of the trade that makes me nervous as a Packers fan. The Vikings actually got a good deal for Harvin. First round picks don't get traded all that often these days. The fact that they got that plus one or two more draft picks is amazing, especially considering Harvin is a perpetual malcontent. Could this mean that the team has finally gotten some level of competence making player decisions for them? Let's hope not.

What about the situation that Harvin was traded into? It's pretty clear that he is in a better situation that he was in. That disappoints me because I dislike seeing head-case, ego-driven players get what they want, but that's beside the point. If the trade works out for Seattle, Packer fans could expect the Seahawks and the 49ers to beat up on each other even more over the next couple of years.

Then, of course, there's the value proposition. The Seahawks overpaid. Maybe they had to in order to get the elite receiver that they needed, but they overpaid. I don't know if Seattle just thinks that they are limited to getting people off of Minnesota's scrap-heap, but they would have done well to expand their horizons in this case. They overpaid for a receiver who is as likely to destroy their locker room as he is to win them games. With as good and as young as Seattle's team is, I don't think they were wise to take that risk.

On the other hand, it could work, and then nobody would fault them for the risk or the high price. Time will tell.