Percy Harvin Traded: What it Means on the Field

[DanoooME]

http://central.sonsofsamhorn.net/nfl/general-nfl/percy-harvin-traded-what-it-means-on-the-field/
 

In a trade that sent both shockwaves and head scratches through the NFL late last week, the Seattle Seahawks dealt wide receiver Percy Harvin to the New York Jets for a 2015 conditional draft pick. If the Jets release Harvin prior to next season they’ll send Seattle a 6th-rounder, but if Harvin is still under contract with New York to start the season the pick becomes a 4th-rounder. Seattle played their first game without Harvin on Sunday, while the Jets will have to wait until this weekend to see how their newest acquisition fits in.
Reaction has continued to roll in, including reports of Harvin clashing with the coaching staff and even quarterback Russell Wilson, and fighting with former Seahawks wide receiver Golden Tateduring Super Bowl week. Additional speculation concerns the salary cap impact on Seattle and the freeing of money to sign Wilson to a long term deal. If true, the psychological component of the locker room chemistry may be sufficient to justify the trade, but there will surely be significant effects seen on the field of play for both teams.
 

 

 

[soxfan121]

This is an awesome bit of detail: 
 

This season, on passes of 20 yards or more, Smith is just 3-for-21 for 96 yards, with a touchdown and 4 interceptions. Yikes! Clearly, he’s not a deep thrower. Meanwhile, Harvin tends to stay closer to the line of scrimmage, trying to gain yardage with his speed and athleticism. Another issue with Smith is that his receivers have dropped 13 passes this season, tied for 8th-most among NFL quarterbacks. Harvin has not dropped a pass in the last two seasons and only muffed one in 2012; he has excellent hands and that should help give Smith some confidence that his throws will be caught.
 

 

[TheoShmeo]

Harvin's catch rate on balls thrown to him is 85% according to Comcast's nightly show.  By contrast, the Jets' team rate is 52%.  Now some of that presumably has to do with Geno but Harvin gives them sure hands and unusual athleticism.  And some of Harvin's rate is undoubtedly tied to the fact that he catches a lot of passes near the line of scrimmage.
 
He might be a locker room issue, and he might not (see http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2014/10/18/trading-problem-player-percy-may-create-a-problem-with-marshawn/), but in my mind the Pats Week 16 game just got tougher, as they will have to deal with a WR who is much more dangerous than anyone that the Jets had on the field on Thursday night.

 

[Super Nomario]

This is an awesome bit of detail: 
 

The weird thing is, deep passing was the best part of Geno's game last year - PFF had him as tied for the third most accurate deep passer behind Russell Wilson and Peyton Manning at 26 of 60 with 2 drops. This year he's not even on the leader board because he's thrown deep so infrequently, but he's dead last in deep ball accuracy if you lower the threshold to 25%.

 

[Tony C]

Harvin does have good hands. But those numbers may also reflect that he also has been positioned for a lot of easy throws. Stepping back 2 yards from the line of scrimmage and taking in a pass from Wilson is a lot different than going over the middle and catching a ball while waiting for a LB to wallop you, even if both passes are "on target."

 

[bsartist618]

For what it's worth, Harvin also only had one drop in his last season on the Vikings with Ponder throwing to him.  https://www.profootballfocus.com/blog/2013/01/21/signature-stats-drop-rate-wide-receivers/
 
If the Jet's offense has been simplified for Smith, can we expect Harvin to be a relative "plug-and-play" at WR? (Fantasy owners everywhere want to know)

 

[coremiller]

For what it's worth, Harvin also only had one drop in his last season on the Vikings with Ponder throwing to him.  https://www.profootballfocus.com/blog/2013/01/21/signature-stats-drop-rate-wide-receivers/
 
If the Jet's offense has been simplified for Smith, can we expect Harvin to be a relative "plug-and-play" at WR? (Fantasy owners everywhere want to know)

 
A lot of the stuff Harvin is most famous for -- screens, jet sweeps, the invereted veer, flat passes, etc. -- shouldn't be difficult for Harvin to figure out how to do on a new team.  He doesn't have to learn new option routes that require complicated synced-up coverage reads in order to do a lot of his stuff.
 
The harder part may be teaching Harvin's best plays to the rest of the Jets' offense.  If they haven't previously installed a jet sweep, for example, they'll have to spend practice time on it getting the blocking and ball-handling down.

 

[singaporesoxfan]

Here's a good breakdown of jet sweeps and fly sweeps including an example of Harvin in a fly sweep.

http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap3000000392113/article/cordarrelle-patterson-percy-harvin-illustrate-jet-sweeps-power

 

[soxfan121]

The weird thing is, deep passing was the best part of Geno's game last year - PFF had him as tied for the third most accurate deep passer behind Russell Wilson and Peyton Manning at 26 of 60 with 2 drops. This year he's not even on the leader board because he's thrown deep so infrequently, but he's dead last in deep ball accuracy if you lower the threshold to 25%.

 
They didn't change coordinators, so what explains that?

 

[DJnVa]

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2238790-mike-freemans-10-point-stance-another-wr-learns-not-to-disrespect-the-qb
 

While reports like this one from ESPN's Chris Mortensen suggest Wilson wanted to help Harvin through his anger issues, one Seahawks player said the biggest reason the team traded the wide receiver was his increasing animosity toward Wilson. The player said Harvin was an accelerant in a locker room that was quickly dividing between Wilson and anti-Wilson. 

The main issue some players seem to have with Wilson is they think he's too close to the front office, which is the same ridiculous thing some said about McNabb. How anyone could have a problem with Wilson—one of the best players in the sport and one of its best citizens—is unfathomable to me, but that's the case.

There is also an element of race that needs to be discussed. My feeling on this—and it's backed up by several interviews with Seahawks players—is that some of the black players think Wilson isn't black enough.

 

[Van Everyman]

NFL Culture: Still Awesome

Will be interested to see how Carroll comes out of all this if the team doesn't turn it around this year.

Also legitimately interested to see if Harvin can contribute. Looks to me like he plays quite well to Geno and the offensive strengths of the team. Add in the fact that they are undeniably better than their record and have just finished a brutal part of their schedule (as we start ours), I would be surprised if they weren't closer in the standings to the Pats after the next six games.

 

[soxfan121]

No one ever says Tom Brady is too white and he's cozier with the front office than a Snuggie.

 

[DJnVa]

NFL Culture: Still Awesome

Will be interested to see how Carroll comes out of all this if the team doesn't turn it around this year.

Also legitimately interested to see if Harvin can contribute. Looks to me like he plays quite well to Geno and the offensive strengths of the team. Add in the fact that they are undeniably better than their record and have just finished a brutal part of their schedule (as we start ours), I would be surprised if they weren't closer in the standings to the Pats after the next six games.

 
He is good close to and behind the LOS, but the word was he wanted to do more than that.