Sid Hartman: Percy Harvin Demands Trade From Vikings

There are certain points you reach in certain situations in life where you realize that you may be past the point of no return. It appears the Minnesota Vikings may have reached such a point with wide receiver Percy Harvin.

According to Sid Hartman of the Minneapolis Star-Tribune. . .

There has been a lot of speculation about Harvin's future with the Vikings, and the wide receiver has refused to comment about the different reports.

However, the latest word from some good sources around the NFL is that Harvin, who missed the final seven regular-season games as well as the playoff game because of a serious ankle injury, has told the Vikings that he doesn't want to play for them and wants to be traded.

That "point of no return" thing that I mentioned earlier? Yeah, when you've lost Sid Hartman. . .quite possibly the most homerific homer that ever covered sports in the state of Minnesota and who can generally find the positive in just about any Minnesota sports-related angle. . .you've lost basically everybody. Now, because it is Grandpa Sports, take it with as many grains of salt as you feel necessary, but the man still has his connections in the Minnesota sports world.

Now, I'm sure that there will be folks out there that will react to this much the same way they reacted to the story I posted earlier this week about Harvin wanting "Calvin Johnson" money. There will be much weeping, much gnashing of teeth, and many cries that people don't know what in the hell they're talking about. And that's fine and dandy and totally understandable. Percy Harvin is a great football player. . .nobody, myself included, has ever denied that. He's given us many highlights over his four seasons in Minnesota, and is undoubtedly one of the most dynamic players in the National Football League.

And let's make another thing perfectly clear. . .as it stands right now, the Minnesota Vikings don't have to do one damn thing with Percy Harvin. Percy Harvin is under contract to the Minnesota Vikings for the 2013 season, whether he, his agent, or anybody else likes it or not. Sure, he can sit out and come back for the final six games so that he can get to free agency. And then after the season the Vikings can slap him with the franchise tag, at which point he can a) sign the tender and play for the Vikings, b) get traded for high draft picks, or c) sit at home and not play football for anybody. They can slap him with the franchise tag the year after that, too, if they want.

Basically, the Minnesota Vikings can decide not just where. . .or even if. . .Harvin plays football in 2013, but in 2014 and 2015, too. As it stands now, Harvin has absolutely zero leverage in this situation, and he has to know that. The only club he has in the bag right now is to stay home, and after the Vikings finished the season 5-2 following Harvin's injury against the Seattle Seahawks and ran off a four-game winning streak to finish the regular season and make the playoffs, the Vikings might not have a huge problem with that.

Even after the things I've written over the past couple of days, I would still hate to see Percy Harvin leave this football team because it would be tough, if not impossible, to replace him. But if the guy wants to act like he's bigger than the team, then he needs to go. There's exactly one guy on this entire roster at the moment that could even remotely begin to make the claim that he's bigger than the team. . .and I can assure you, it isn't Percy Harvin.

If Percy Harvin wants to check his attitude at the door and be a part of what the Minnesota Vikings are building, then great. Awesome. Wonderful. I can't wait to see it. If he doesn't? Well. . .there was Minnesota Vikings football before Percy Harvin came to town, and there will be Minnesota Vikings football after he leaves, whenever that might be. There's not really a whole lot more to say about that.