On an emotional level, today is not a happy day if you are a Vikings fan. Percy Harvin is one of the most exciting football players we have ever watched -- and pound for pound, one of the toughest. A trade to Seattle does not make Minnesota a more dynamic football team as it stands right now.
But personnel moves -- most wise ones, anyway -- tend to be made for more practical reasons and less emotional ones. If Harvin just wasn't going to work here, be it because of his attitude or the Vikings' inability to tolerate it, then Minnesota's hand was pretty much forced.
Given that, the Vikings' reported haul -- a first- and seventh-round pick this year plus a mid-rounder next year -- is certainly fair.
But while Harvin wasn't around for the playoff push last year, he was a key member of the team early in the season -- as he had been when healthy since his rookie season in 2009.
Assuming this trade goes through, and assuming Jerome Simpson is not coming back, the Vikings will be without their top three pass-catching wide receivers from a year ago after also cutting Michael Jenkins. They are woefully thin at that spot as of Monday, with Jarius Wright their top returning receiver (and he didn't even see the field for the first half of the season).
That said, free agency officially starts tomorrow. There are options out there. Minnesota also will have the No. 23 and No. 25 picks in the first round of the draft.
Here's the question: If you were Rick Spielman, how would you attack free agency and the draft based on the holes that exist on this team?
