Vikings Message Board.Com

fiestavike wrote:If those are his demands I doubt we could get more than a 4th rounder for him, if that. I'd say just sit on him, suspend him if he wants to be a disturbance, and get whatever compensatory pick comes our way.

Let's hope it doesn't come to that.

If those are his initial demands, perhaps he'll be willing to settle for less. I suspect he'll have to, with the Vikings or elsewhere.

Jim

Mothman wrote: It wouldn't surprise me either and I wasn't suggesting it's just empty speculation, merely that at this time of year reports like Cole's shouldn't just be accepted at face value. Agents are putting info out there to try to get the best deals for their clients and it's tough to get a read on what's good, accurate information and what isn't. I won't be surprised at all if Harvin wants to be paid like one of the top 2-3 WRs in the league or if the Vikings make a run at Wallace and end up trading Harvin for what they can get (which, if his contract demands are that high, may not be much). I suspect there's some truth in Cole's post. He probably isn't just posting empty speculation but I also question the accuracy of what he wrote because the closest he gets to mentioning a source is "it's believed that Harvin wants money closer to what Calvin Johnson got from Detroit". He doesn't even give us a "source close to the situation" or a "league source". "It's believed" isn't much to hang your hat on... believed by whom?

Jim

Just to clarify, my mention of "empty speculation" was to previous media reports that were often lacking in substance, not to anything in your post. This new report, as you point out, isn't very clear or definitive either, but the little pieces that are coming together are starting to concern me a bit. I would like Percy to remain a Viking, but something certainly smells funny to my nose.

Texas Vike wrote: Just to clarify, my mention of "empty speculation" was to previous media reports that were often lacking in substance, not to anything in your post. This new report, as you point out, isn't very clear or definitive either, but the little pieces that are coming together are starting to concern me a bit. I would like Percy to remain a Viking, but something certainly smells funny to my nose.

I agree. I definitely want Harvin to remain a Viking but I'm concerned by the escalating ludicrousness of every story that comes out. I agree with Moth. The money part sounds insane.

Then again, these are just "stories" for now. I'll be glad when the smoke has cleared and a final decision is truly made.

dead_poet wrote:Just great.

Percy Harvin - WR - Vikings
According to Yahoo Sports' Jason Cole, Percy Harvin is targeting a deal in the range of Calvin Johnson's as opposed to Dwayne Bowe or Vincent Jackson.

Harvin considers himself a "special" player and reportedly wants $16.5 annually, which would put him right behind Megatron ($18.8M average) and ahead of Larry Fitzgerald ($16.06M). Bowe and Jackson, the NFL's third and fourth highest-paid wideouts, collect $11.2M and $11.1M per year, respectively. Per Cole, Harvin "threatened to walk out on the team" last offseason after hearing the Patriots gave Aaron Hernandez a contract extension after only two NFL seasons. "[The Vikings are] in a tough spot," one source told Cole. "If you don't take some aggressive action, this could get really bad." Harvin seems 50:50 to be a Viking in 2013.

Source: Yahoo Sports Mar 8 - 12:32 AM

These stories keep getting more and more ridiculous as each day passes. At this point, I don't even know what to believe anymore.

if percy is really going to fight for that money, let him go, he's insane if he thinks he will get anywhere near that. sign wallace and find other wrs. i love percy and want him on our team, but he is going to be nothing but problems. granted these stories arent guaranteed to be true, but it just keeps piling up.

I still believe it's more on the side of speculation than full truth, although I really do believe Percy is trying to get paid.

My best guess is that his agent is trying to inflate Percy's own value of himself so that they shoot for CJ money, but land on Bowe money. Elementary, yet effective, negotiating tactic, no?

I heard an interview on KFAN today with Dan Wierder and he was saying that the major issue in his opinion is whether Harvin wants to be a part of MN. If PH wants a Fitz or Megatron Deal then they need to deal him. He isn’t worth that kind of money. Perhaps this situation is more about what kind of market the Vikings can create for PH in light of his irrational demands? I think it is extremely unlikely they’ll give him a Megatron contract as well as being equally unlikely that they’ll pay him a normal elite WR contract in addition to another big FA signing. They are not going to have two $55MM WR on the books.

Therefore, I think the scenarios are shaping up as follows:

A: Harvin signs for $60MM-ish and then look to the draft to add WR
B: We deal Harvin for some picks, and sign Mike Wallace or someone similar in FA, plus draft a WR
C: The Vikings think they can negotiate with PH and fail, losing out on FA WR and potentially eroding PH’s trade value. (Who is going to trade for a guy who they know is going to demand a ridiculous contract?)

This really comes down to Harvin’s realistic opinion of his value and the Vikings gauge of what they can accomplish with him. C would be a disaster IMO. It basically wastes their 2009 1st round pick. At this point if Harvin is going to be ridiculous then B is the best outcome. If Harvin can be sane in his demands then A is better.

I Will believe those "demands" when I hear them from Percy or his agent.

HardcoreVikesFan wrote: These stories keep getting more and more ridiculous as each day passes. At this point, I don't even know what to believe anymore.

Easy: you don't read/trust Yahoo. Do you read any of their other articles? Their so-called 'journalists' are a joke.

PurpleMustReign wrote:I Will believe those "demands" when I hear them from Percy or his agent.

Same here. As I said before, I can't wait for the smoke to clear in all this. It's all become like a bloated TV reality show.

losperros wrote:
Same here. As I said before, I can't wait for the smoke to clear in all this. It's all become like a bloated TV reality show.

It seems to be more apparent that Harvin's issues are money issues and not issues with their noodle armed midget QB that some "fans" despise

So here is the problem I have with the "I'll believe it when Percy says it" thing: Why hasn’t a contract extension been signed yet? The Harvin deal is a big cloud over our offseason right now and generating plenty of media buzz. Maybe the FO do not care, but I doubt that is the case. So why isn’t there a contract in place to extend him?
I see two reasons:

1.) He is demanding more than they are willing to offer
2.) He doesn’t want to play here anymore

I’m sure someone on here will say “option 3, Spielman is dumb. If that were the case then the play is that the FO thinks they can outlast PH and get him to sign what they think he is worth. Precedent in the league says this would be a major folly. Harvin can hold out. Harvin can be a major nuisance, Harvin could just play out his remaining year and then enter the market and court whomever he chooses after next season. Time is not on Spielman’s side so I highly doubt the Vikings are the impediment to a deal at this point.

The one place where I could see the Vikings possibly being dumb is if they are trying to lowball Harvin. This would be something like they only want to give him $48MM instead of $55. That would also be stupid, but I think given his production over 8 games that this is also unlikely. It also plays out in reason 1 above.

For this reason I think Harvin demanding Megatron money is entirely possible. If he was making reasonable demands he’d already have an extension and the team would lay this to rest. At this point the cliché about where there is smoke there is fire is highly plausible.

I wonder if using him at RB as much as they did contributed to the situation in his mind. I know I was getting mad at the offense for playing him too much there and right before he got injured. (He was hobbling before he went down and they still put him back there.)

In the interview it was stated by Wierder (who could be wrong, just saying what I heard) said that according to folks close to Percy, it is very, very important to Harvin to be able to show who he is and what he is capable of during his short time in the NFL. Whether true or not is unknown, but that attitude certainly fits in with the other information we have as well as his infamous sideline tirade.

So it could quite possibly be not about money but about Harvin’s perception that he is not in the best situation for himself on this team. IMO, this is actually a better place ot be than just stuck on $$$. Harvin can demand a trade, but that could put him in a worse situation. Also, if he is too much of a primadonna, a team that he wants to play for may opt to pass up on his locker room antics. That is a better bargaining position for the Vikes than “Pay me X or I’m gone.”

Irrespective of the above, I’ve noticed a trend with Harvin’s behavior in that he is very conscious of his “window or opportunity” in the league. That is why I find Wierder’s comments to be relevant, they echo my own observations. We’ll learn more once the big time WR FA get signed, specifically if the Vikings sing one of them.

If he doesn't think he's in a great situation for himself in Minnesota then he's nuts. 90% of the teams he would go to do not need to use Percy the way the Vikings did and he probably isn't utilized to the optimum capacity in which he wants to be if he goes elsewhere. Minnesota's offense demanded that they got the most out of Percy's versatility.