Head coach Leslie Frazier remains confident that Harvin will return despite confrontations between the two back in Dec. before the team place him on a season-ending injured reserve list. Frazier gave the typical response of a head coach in reference to Harvin’s status with the Vikings, but starting quarterback Christian Ponder took a different and possibly more honest approach to his teammate’s immediate future in Minnesota.
Ponder praised Harvin for a being a great teammate and a great player, but isn’t sure what the future holds in terms of Harvin playing for the Vikings next season via Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk:
“I’m not sure, I don’t know,” Ponder told Paul Allen of KFAN on Tuesday. “We’ll see. I mean, we’ll see how everything shakes out. I’m not sure what Rick Spielman’s gonna be doing. Obviously, it’d be nice to have [Harvin]. He’s a heck of a player.”
Frazier’s vague comments on Harvin’s return and Ponder’s uncertainty surrounding his number one target’s future in Minnesota isn’t a good sign for the Vikings.
Without Harvin on the roster, the talent receiving corps in Minnesota goes down considerably and the mediocre passing attack of the Vikings will likely become a poor passing offense if the team can’t retain him.
Although the Vikings appear to be a team with potential moving forward, the once-promising team built around Peterson may start to fall apart without Harvin in the long-term plans. It’s no surprise that Harvin would be disappointed with his current status with the team considering no contract extension has been offered and the 24-year-old heading into the final year of his contract.
Harvin is set to make $1.55 million next season before becoming an unrestricted free agent in 2014.
