With the 22nd pick in the 2009 NFL Draft the Minnesota Vikings have selected Percy Harvin. A lot of recent speculation had Percy dropping out of the first round because of his failed drug test, but apparently his talent is just too much to pass up on at Pick 22.

Percy is going to just KILL it with Percy Harvin. Coupled with Adrian Peterson (the best running back in the NFL) and Bernard Berrian, they are now going to have an extremely explosive offense. Percy Harvin will also be running indoors on the floor rather then grass. He is going to just be insanely fast in that stadium. Sure the Vikings have issues at quarterback, but rest of their offense is just going to be scary good.

I really couldn’t have thought of a better team for Percy to go to. The Vikings will utilize all his abilities and let him run in space. I’m looking forward to decking this website our in purple and gold now.

Day 1 of the NFL Draft is tomorrow. The day Percy Harvin fans have been waiting for since he declared for the draft after winning his second BCS National Championship. It’s been a bumpy road for PErcy these past few months. He killed it at the Combine and the Pro Day. His stock was going up and up… with some mock place him into the top 10. Though like a roller coaster that climbs 300 ft, the ride must come down. Once Percy’s failed drug test was reported it was nothing but downhill. Couple the drug test with rumored coaching issues and injury concerns and you now have someone who is the most purely talented player in the draft possibly falling into the second round. We’ll know what happens tomorrow.

Of all the CBS Sports mock drafts, Pete Prisco is the only one who has Percy going in the first round (#29 to the Giants). The National Football Post also has him going to the Giants. With the recent developments of Plaxico Burress, I’m not sure Tom Coughlin will draft a WR with some issues in the first round (remember RJ Soward?). I personally see him being drafted at No. 30 to the Tennessee Titans.

I don’t normally post entire articles here for you to read, but Tom Robinson of the Virginia-Pilot does a pretty good job telling Percy Harvin’s story over the past few weeks. He talks about the failed drug test, attitude issues, and most importantly… his insane amount of talent on the football field.

I still don’t know what to make of Percy. I think he’ll be drafted at the bottom of the first round by possibly Miami or Indianapolis. And despite his failed drug test and terrible wonderlic score, I still believe Percy will be an awesome professional athlete. I can see a handful of Pro Bowls mixed in throughout his career.

The Virginian-Pilot

It’s no great leap of logic to conclude that Virginia Beach’s Percy Harvin, a brilliant football player, isn’t the brightest guy going. That’s no crime; the NFL covets athletes who can take it to the house, not draw blueprints of one.

Harsh as it might be, though, Harvin falls into a different category of dumb for coming to the February combine with marijuana in his system, as FOXSports.com and others have reported.

Harvin was the highest-profile player of fewer than a dozen to flunk the test. The urine test taken by every player invited to the combine. The test that is the furthest thing from a surprise. The test that is proclaimed and announced and all but plastered onto welcome posters at the Indianapolis airport: “Greetings, NFL prospects. Here, fill this cup.”

Smoking pot alone won’t necessarily cost Harvin untold dollars in this weekend’s NFL draft. Being obtuse, arrogant or even addicted enough to flunk a gimme drug test, though, is without question another pock mark for a guy long festooned with them for attitude, behavior and injury issues.

Or, as NFL Network analyst and former NFL player Mike Mayock said last week, not many club executives “are real excited to have a kid on their team who is dumb enough to test positive at the combine.”

Predictably, then, Harvin, who has great potential as a game-changer from numerous offensive positions, is thought to be plunging down draft boards as we speak.

Subtly, he’s gone from a solid first-rounder to a “first-day” guy now according to former head coach and commentator Steve Mariucci. The first and second draft rounds are held Saturday.

And according to Pro Football Weekly, five unnamed NFL executives unanimously named Harvin the greatest character risk among the draft’s top-flight players.

Ouch. Sure, Harvin could fall to the second round. It seems to be getting likelier by the day, in fact, which is where he’ll take a significant financial hit. Just as an example, last year there was roughly a $4 million difference in guaranteed money between the deals of No. 15 Branden Albert with the Chiefs and No. 30 Dustin Keller with the Jets.

Obviously, Harvin, who hasn’t responded to interview requests, is a handful, and he has been long enough – dating to his Landstown High days – that he’s not about to change. It still might not matter much.

“A team that’s been burned by an off-the-field issue, they’re going to shy away,” ESPN’s draft analyst Mel Kiper Jr. said. “If teams have had good success and have managed kids properly once they got to the NFL, they figure they mature, this is something they deal with, and then you have a different outlook.”

Sorry idealists, but in the pros, pure talent is what moves the worth-the-trouble meter. Harvin’s talent allowed him to compile nearly 2,000 yards rushing and 2,000 yards receiving in three seasons at the University of Florida. That’s rare ability that NFL teams are desperate, sometimes embarrassingly so, to obtain.

“I realize there’s been some negative publicity surrounding him,” said former head coach Jon Gruden, like Mariucci an NFL Network analyst. Nonetheless, Gruden said, Harvin “is the most dynamic offensive player I’ve seen in this draft. … Every time he touches the ball it’s downright scary.

“I love this guy as a football player, and I didn’t get any feel at all that he was anything but a game-day kind of guy, a great competitor. I hope that’s true.”

Gruden did reference Harvin’s reputation at Florida as difficult to coach: “He’s not one of those guys that, you know, looks forward to doing a lot of other things than playing on game day.”

Yet, “when the stage is lit and it’s time to play,” Gruden said, “this guy’s there and he shines brightest .”

Ultimately for Harvin, that brightness will matter the most.

I feel kind of stupid now after defending Percy in my previous post.But as the only Percy Harvin fan site out there, I feel it’s necessary to tell the fans all the stories and news that comes out about Percy. ProFootballTalk.com is now confirming the report. They are too big of a website to risk publishing false info, especially after NFL Draft Bible took so much criticism last week.

Though NFLDraftBible.com took a lot of criticism a couple of weeks ago, and perhaps rightfully so, for naming six players as having tested positive for marijuana or banned substances at the Scouting Combine, we’ve confirmed that one of the players outed by the web site — Florida receiver Percy Harvin — indeed tested positive for marijuana at the Combine.

The news isn’t a surprise, given that neither Harvin nor his agent, Joel Segal, have disputed the original report.

The impact of the result on Harvin’s draft standing remains to be seen. Smoking marijuana is a fairly common phenomenon; the issue is whether a guy can stop doing it in order to avoid getting suspended.

The fact that Harvin wasn’t able to produce clean urine for a test that he knew he was going to be taking isn’t an encouraging sign.

The more and more I listen to sports talk radio, the more and more I hear about Percy Harvin’s draft stock dropping like a rock. Just a few weeks ago, we were talking about the potential of Harvin being a top 10 pick in the 2009 NFL Draft… now all these “experts” are saying he could fall into the second round! WTF.

No one denies he’s the most talented player in the draft, the “experts” just keep talking about his alleged failed drug tust, often the field issues and now apparently his “me first” attitude. They’ve been comparing him to Terrell Owens and Chad Johnson saying he will be a selfish player and not a great locker room presence.

What are these guys talking about?! Percy Harvin never got in trouble at Florida. He never failed a drug test, was never tasered at 3 am outside the Grog House. He played through a ton of injuries when he should have been resting. Percy is the exact opposite of a “me first” player. I never once saw him complain to anyone on the sideline about playing time or getting the ball.

I think all this negative talk about Percy is just nonsense from teams in the late first round wanting him to fall to them. The teams that pass on Harvin will be very sorry they did.

In recent news, a fellow accused player B.J. Raji has vehemently denied the reports of a failed drug test… claiming the reports from NFLDraftBible.com are false. If Raji is telling the truth, then it’s possible that the inclusion of Percy Harvin in the list of players who failed a drug test is also false.

The following is from Deadspin.com

“Last Thursday, at least two websites published malicious rumors – characterized as fact – that our client B.J. Raji failed a drug test at the NFL Combine, citing unnamed ‘NFL team sources.’ On Friday, the NFL issued a statement challenging the foundation for these reports and indicating that neither the League, nor its member clubs, know the results of drug or steroid tests taken at the 2009 Combine and that the independent medical advisors who administer the tests have notified in writing those players – and only those players – who tested positive at the Combine.

“B.J. Raji has NOT received any letter from the NFL or the Independent Administrator indicating that he tested positive for drugs at the Combine. Further, after these unsubstantiated reports surfaced, B.J. contacted the independent medical advisor’s office (Dr. Lawrence Brown) to confirm that he had not been sent any letter and has not been entered into the NFL’s Drug Intervention Program. B.J. did not receive a return call from Dr. Brown, but learned today that Dr. Brown is not allowed to talk to any player directly unless that player was sent a letter informing him that he had failed a drug test at the NFL Combine and/or been instructed to contact Dr. Brown. That Dr. Brown will not talk to B.J. – as Dr. Brown would otherwise be expected to do under the NFL Substance Abuse Policy if B.J. had failed a drug test or being sent a letter directing him to contact the medical advisor’s office – is further proof that these reports are untrue.

I still think it’s strange that we have heard nothing from Percy Harvin’s camp regarding this issue. Maybe by not addressing it, they hope to keep it under the radar?

The NFL Draft Bible and various other websites are reporting that Percy Harvin was one of three players at the NFL Combine to test positive for marijuana. I’m not really surprised when I hear an NFL player (or prospect) tests positive for drugs. It’s “part of the culture” right? If this report is true, it could cause him to fall a little bit in the draft and cost him millions of dollars.

To quote Alligator Army:

Where there is a story like this, people should hold judgment until a legitimate news organization reports it. So far, ESPN, Fox and Sports Illustrated have not reported that Harvin is on the list of failed drug tests. To the best of my knowledge, Harvin never failed a drug test in school, so it would be surprising he would fail his first one out of school.

Secondly, Harvin would have tested positive for weed, which can happen if you’re around a smoker and not actually doing the stuff. To me, weed is better than steroids, which is what USC LBs Brian Cushing and Clay Matthews are accused of. Every college kid comes in contact with weed at some point, not illegal steroids.

While we need to hold judgement until someone more credible than The NFL Draft Bible (would they be the Holy Book of Draft Day?) reports on this, let’s assume these six players did test positive. I don’t think it’s a big deal. Which is more a sign of Harvin’s character; playing a National Championship game on a broken leg, or possibly smoking weed?

Hopefully this is all a mix up and Percy’s name will be cleared. If it’s true, it won’t change much… he’ll still be an NFL superstar. Randy Moss smokes weed too, right?