Percy Harvin denies that he had any problems with former teammate Christian Ponder, contrary to a recent report. Instead, he says the two had a “great relationship.”
Harvin’s comments came during a phone interview with Suzy Kolber on ESPN’s “NFL 32” Thursday. He was asked what went wrong with the Minnesota Vikings last season, and he took the question as an opportunity to dispute a Yahoo! Sports report that said he wanted out of Minnesota because he didn’t think Ponder was a good enough quarterback.
“My time with Minnesota was media blown,” Harvin told Kolber. “I had a great time in Minnesota. To the whole Christian Ponder thing, me and him had a great relationship. I hope he appreciated me just as much as I appreciated him. I never came out with any report saying my lack of faith in him or anything close to that. I haven’t done an interview since we inked, so I had no idea where all those reports came from.
“It was kind of disappointing to hear those reports coming out when I hadn’t done an interview since we inked. To clear all that up, me and Ponder had a great relationship. I appreciate him 100 percent and I hope he appreciated me the same as I did him.”
If Ponder is wondering where that came from, Jason Cole cited two sources who told him Harvin did not have confidence in the former Florida State quarterback.
Ponder was bothered by the report. He told the St. Paul Pioneer Press that Harvin never complained to him and that he thought they had a good relationship.
“The thing is, there’s no quote strictly from Percy that he was the one saying it,” Ponder told the Pioneer Press’ Ben Goessling. “I haven’t put too much thought into it. If that was his opinion, that’s unfortunate. But he’s a Seahawk now, so it doesn’t really matter.
“People have their opinions. There were things I could have done better (last season). But now that he’s on a different team, his opinion doesn’t really mean much.”
Going back to last June, Harvin seemed like a disgruntled player. He reportedly wanted a trade then, and he was said to have threatened to walk out on the team.
Given all his problems in Minnesota, it’s hard to take his word in the situation.
Photo credit: Bruce Kluckhohn-US PRESSWIRE
