A new chapter for Percy Harvin begins with the New York Jets, trying to hang on to the slim hope of this season not being a complete disaster. The talented wide receiver is trying to show the league he isn’t as bad as everyone thinks he might be.

Last season and in the beginning of this one there was constant talk of how talented and useful Percy Harvin is. One of the fastest players in football with the ability to help out in special teams, on trick plays from the backfield and do a lot of damage on short receptions. But then came one shocking day in which Harvin got traded to the awful New York Jets, and suddenly he seems to be public enemy number one in Seattle according to some.

The NFL and professional sports is a business. Players get traded sometimes for no personal reason. Most of the time, NFL teams are above that kind of melodrama. It’s about doing what’s best for the team, even if it means making decisions that on the surface seem unpopular. The Seattle Seahawks losing for a second consecutive game didn’t make that decisions seem any wiser with a distance of a few days to mull things over.

But all the rumors and sources suggest that Harvin was a locker room problem for a very long time. Combine that with the Seahawks not being able to use him on the field as well as they thought they would and his huge salary, moving him along, despite the price it cost to get him (three draft picks, including a number one), doesn’t seem like such a bad decision, even if they did get back just one conditional draft pick.

The New York Jets, at 1-6, don’t have much to lose. Their offense is on the rocks anyway, and Harvin doesn’t have a lot of guaranteed money left on his contract. Harvin is also put in a situation in which he should be highly motivated to put an end to the doubts about him being able to get involved with a team, not just on the field but off of it as well. After all, with the rumors about him setting in as facts, there will be no one to give him another big contract unless his move to the Jets pays off big time.

From tweets and reactions to the Harvin trade, it didn’t seem like he was actually that hated by the locker room in Seattle. But the reporting persisted about the fights he was in, his attitude, and the attempts of the Seahawks to trade him to quite a few teams, failing with each one until getting to the Jets. Cutting him was also an option, but the Seahawks managed to avoid that by finding one team with plenty of cap space and nothing to lose.

Harvin has been injured quite a lot since entering the NFL. All the talk of potential and not a lot to show for it except for a touchdown in the Super Bowl off a return. That momentary glory won’t carry him around for long. His numbers from this season alone (22 receptions for 133 yards and no touchdowns) are what matter the most to the Jets, and both the team and Harvin himself can’t afford for them to remain this low.

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