Vikings GM Rick Spielman Says Percy Harvin Won’t Be Traded

The Vikings are surely acting like the “issues” between them and Percy Harvin are no big deal, even though those issues reportedly prompted Harvin to ask the team for a trade. GM Rick Spielman spoke on Wednesday from Winter Park and assured everyone that Harvin will not be traded, despite his request, and that things will be worked out.

“From our standpoint, the Minnesota Vikings, we have no interest at all in trading Percy Harvin,” Spielman said. “We drafted Percy Harvin here, he’s a key part of our organization and a key part of our football team. Any issues that are out there or are reported, we always handle those internally and will continue to handle those internally.”

“It’s part of the NFL,” Spielman continued. “There’s always going to be some players where you have to deal with specific issues and you have to deal with them internally, get them resolved and move forward.” Spielman said he expects Harvin to report for training camp like “all our players that are under contract.”

Your move, Percy Harvin. And what will that next move be? I wouldn’t even care to predict. Harvin’s “issues” appeared completely out of the blue and for all I know may evaporate just as suddenly. Harvin did show up for minicamp this morning but sat out of the walkthrough, instead spending his time on the sidelines watching. He left without speaking to the media as you would expect.

Harvin’s silence and Spielman’s necessary circumspection force us into pure speculation mode as regards Harvin’s issues. The favorite theory is that Harvin wants his contract redone, but that’s sort of boring and straight-forward. We want juicy conspiracy theories. The best one so far has been put forth by Mike Florio: He believes Randy Moss might be behind this whole thing. He thinks Moss might be whispering in his buddy Harvin’s ear, goading him into forcing a trade so San Francisco can swoop in and nab him. Is Brett Favre in on this too or is he too old now?

That’s fun. But a more likely explanation is that Harvin got told some stuff this week that he didn’t want to hear and went all Drama Queen on it. Gosh only knows what the team could’ve told Harvin that set him off. Supposedly it’s not an issue with his role in the offense, because according to Bill Musgrave, Percy is fine with the offense and fine with him and fine with everything. Maybe they informed him he would be required to show up for practice more than once a week, migraines or no migraines?

I’m starting to suspect Percy Harvin is just a tad mercurial. Let’s hope Rick Spielman and company know how to handle this situation without it blowing up. I suspect that, in the end, the “issues” will be smoothed over the same way such issues normally are: By the guy with the issues getting a bunch more money. But that won’t happen until after this season most likely, when Harvin’s final market value has been better established. Two years out from the end of a rookie deal for a guy who still has question marks hanging over his head is too soon to make a commitment one way or the other. For both sides, this thing needs to play out a lot more. Percy just needs to settle down, shut his yap and play football. And let the chips fall where they may when it comes to his future.

And if Randy Moss calls, don’t answer the phone.

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